A Perfect Balance
by Hockey-Girl1322
Summary: When Shoto gets close to the boss of a rising vigilante movement, something about them scares him and shake him to his core. Not even his wife Aydin can give him the normal peace of mind he seeks. The case flips his whole world upside down dragging up his past, leaving him struggling to stay afloat. Lemon, Abuse, & other mature themes are very much present in this fic.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

He walked in the door sighing, he was drained from his long day. But something in the back of his mind kept bugging him; he'd gotten away to easily. The more he thought about it the more he came to the same conclusion that fight had been thrown. He slammed his fist into the door in an uncharacteristic outburst, quelling the frustration slightly, he'd been so close, Fantasia Ammonea Initia Serratis (Fais) a multi quirk villain mastermind who had been a thorn in his side and the side of most of the hero community for the last few years. Fais had burst into the scene two years after they had graduated high school. Now it had been three years since he'd graduated, a year and a half since his daughter was born, and two and a half years after he'd married the love of his life. "I am not buying another door, Shoto-kun, please be careful with that one," A voice called knowingly from the kitchen.

He smiled hearing her voice, he always smiled as soon as he saw her, heard her voice, or smelled anything that remotely reminded him of her. She was his light at the end of the tunnel; no matter how dark it got, he knew she was there at the end with her arms open waiting to be wrapped around him. He'd be lying if he didn't admit it had kept him alive more than a few times knowing he was going back to her. He walked into the room where he saw his wife her long hair deep brown with auburn streaked through it was damp from a shower. She was stirring a large pot on the stove, while Takea his child zoomed around the room in her walker. He watched from the doorway for a moment taking comfort in the scene, before entering the room. He stopped ruffled Takea's multi colored locks kissing his daughter's cheek and plucking her up off the ground. He tossed her into the air a few times delighting the young child, as he spun her around and hugged her close. His wife glancing over her shoulder to enjoy the interaction of her husband and daughter was smiling warmly. He saw her watching and placed Takea down on her blanket with toys laid out infront of her. Before he moved across the room walking up behind his wife he wrapped his arms around her, his face falling to nestle in her hair and neck. He smiled against her shoulder breathing in her scent as he relaxed against her. "I apologize, Aydin," he whispered into her hair. "I'll try not to break the door again. I was just frustrated with work, something didn't sit well with me from today." He told her rubbing his hands up and down her upper arms.

Aydin put the spoon away and turned down the stove for the soup to simmer. She grabbed two teacups and poured tea from a warmed kettle into them. She handed one to him while she set hers down, hopping up on the counter to be eye level with him. He rolled his eyes dramatically at her as she held her arms out for him, but for all the fuss he made he enjoy it when she made him a cup of tea, sat on the counter, held him and listened to him vent about work. She was incredibly smart, and a wonderful tactician, he'd enjoyed having her at his side during their time at UA, both to support him and compete against him, she pushed him to his limits even now. He smiled stepping between her legs setting his cup of tea down. "First things first though." He smiled his arms winding around her, one low across her back the other going to hold the back of her head catching hold of her damp hair as he pulled her lips to his in a sweet but firm and passionate kiss. Her hands flying to his neck, one cupping the side of his neck and under his jaw, the other playing with the hair on the back of his neck. She hummed contentedly against his mouth.

"So love what seems to be troubling you?" she asked draping her arms around his shoulders feeling the tension return to them as he faced her. She truly loved him more than words could ever express, if anything happened to him she didn't know what she would do, she thought looking over his shoulder at Takea who was now sitting on a blanket playing quietly with her toys, right where Shoto had placd her. Aydin smiled, Takea took after Shoto so much in her quiet demeanor it was spooky sometimes, it always scared her when he came home late, she gripped his shoulders and neck tighter letting her head rest on his shoulder.

Shoto buried his face in her neck soaking in her comfort, while also providing the same comfort to her that he craved at the moment. Before sighing, "I don't know its not much, its probably nothing, but you know those weird feelings you get in the pit of your stomach."

"Shoto-kun," she whispered using a hand to lift his face to hers, "We've been through this, those are the instincts you need to listen too, and normally they are what keep you coming back to me." She said kissing his lips before resting her forehead to his.

He nodded against her. "I guess," he acknowledged. "It was work today, I was tracking down a group of villains from Fais' group, it was the closest I'd ever come to that Multi-Quirked bastard" he snarled in frustration his fingers digging into Aydin's sides, she didn't flinch, she just rubbed his back in soothing circles. "He looked right at me I could feel it even though his goggles, and smiled before giving commands, one, only one stayed around while the rest disappeared into the shadows. I'm in the top 3 Heroes for our country and the damned bastard didn't even care, he left one semi decent guy back to fight me, most villains call for back up!" His hand tugged anxiously at the his red hair. "He left all but one, who put up a fight for about 5 minutes then it almost seemed like he had woken up from a trance and then let me beat him. Even Izuku took more damage from Fais when he went after him, and he's the top hero we have." Shoto was pacing, tea in hand.

Aydin hopped off the counter and put her arm on his shoulders, "It sounds like you got lucky. They probably weren't in a position that allowed them to fight today. But for now I should thank the bastard cause you came home today." She said bouncing up on her toes and kissing his cheek before returning to dinner. He smiled she'd always been the perfect balance to him no matter what was going on in is life she could counter and even him out.

Shoto nodded retiring the subject for the time being, "Did Bakago and Midoriya get back to you about coming over next week?" he asked as he set the table.

"Yes, Izuku said they'll be over at 5 if he has to drag Ka-chan by his…." She trailed off blushing.

"Ear?" Shoto smirked back Izuku must have been aggravated with Katsuki when he'd answered for that to have been his response.

"Is that what we are calling it?" Aydin laughed.

"That's what I'm going to go with in this case cause as entertaining as that would be, it's not a picture I want to imagine." Shoto finished setting the table and scooped up Takea kissing her head before settling her into the high chair. Aydin laughed setting soup down on the table.

"Sho-chan," Aydin caught the stoic man's attention, "what are you going to do about this Fais situation?" she asked, wringing her hand around her ring finger knuckle, spinning the ring on her finger, a nervous habit of hers.

Shoto watched her, he could tell that this was giving her just as much grief as it was him. He felt for hs wife, he knew she worried about him and if this was bugging him, she was terrifed. Even if she didn't show it he knew she was going to need him to be close that whole night, they functioned as eachother's anchor. "Honestly, I'm not sure, Fais has such a massive following in the villain community, but I can't classify his moral's as 100% wrong," Shoto said his mouth twisting into a grimace. He watched her twisting the ring he'd placed on her finger even faster, knowing her nervousness was growing he walked over pulling her into his side. "Stop, I'll be fine,"

"You can't promise that Shoto" Aydin sighed, locking eyes with her husband, he'd promised her that before. She shook her head not wanting to remember running through the hospital halls to try and find her husband who had been in emergency surgery. "What makes you say that?" Aydin asked, probing to help him flesh out his thought process. As they sat down to eat "Or I guess what is Fais doing that gives you that impression?" She aptly changed the subject to clear her mind of that horrible night.

Shoto was quiet while he thought about her question. His two toned hair falling in his face as he leaned forward to lift the spoon to his mouth, "Well its best exampled by the targets Fais picks, he picks both heroes and villains alike, there is no discrimination. However while normally both sides deserve to be caught, he doesn't get to be judge and jury."

Aydin nodded, "That does make sense, but has Fais ever killed anyone?" Shoto thought for a few moments before he shook his head slowly. "So they are playing judge and jury, but then leaving the executioner to the justice system."

Shoto nodded running his fingers roughly through his hair. "Yep, which just makes him more accepted by the general public."

"Quite the double edged sword." Aydin stated, "Takea." Aydin turned to her daughter "Stop taking the leeks out of your soup and throwing them on the floor." Aydin told her one and a half year old daughter. Takea froze midway across her placemat holding a leek on her spoon ready to let it drop. Instead of the floor she put it on her napkin instead.

Aydin grimaced at her daughter's antics, as her husband smirked, "you always say you see me in her so much," He smiled, "while I see so much of you." He said, gathering his bowl and hers, scooping the discarded floor leeks from under his daughter's high chair, and setting about doing the dishes. Aydin cleaned Takea up, taking her off to settle the young girl to bed.

Shoto was silent after dinner as he watched the news. Aydin came back into the room after putting Takea down for the night. She grabbed the book she had been musing over for the last few weeks The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. Shoto smiled over at her as she gathered her hair up twisting it into a bun, sticking a pencil through it and walking to sit with him on the couch a highlighter in her hand. He adjusted his body on the couch so she could lean back against him while she read her book. But so he could also watch the news without his view being interfered with. Their bodies relaxed into one another, finding comfort in their ability to be together in silence and in their separate activities while still enjoying the connection and closeness that made them work so well together.

"We've asked our experts at a few of our big time hero agencies to expand upon the case that is Fais and the group who follows him." The reporter said.

"So basically what Kacchan's agency has intelligence wise that he's willing to share with the world." Aydin mused looking up to watch the report.

"From all we can tell Fais rose from the ashes of the All for One take down. And was heavily involved with him as he serves to influence Fais' ideas that his followers are known for spouting when they get caught. But he is also takes after Stain and his agenda making him blur the line of villain and vigilante and has gained a wide underground following since he has clearly stated that he has a list of heroes that his group is not allowed to touch, heroes Fais has deemed worthy of letting live."

Shoto sighed, "That really does throw a wrench in things."

"But are Fais' ideas and system of thinking public knowledge?" Aydin asked.

"No, I don't even think Katsuki knows all of Fais' ideals, why?"

"Because right now they are gaining a following in both the hero, villain, and public view. And still very little is known, are they guiding the sheep to water or wolves?"

Shoto nodded frowning, "That's what makes him scary. It's what scares me most, walking down the street seeing people starting to wear shirts with his symbol on it. Or stickers pasted to poles or the back of benches."

"True. Here's to hoping for water."

"Even though it's probably to wolves." Shoto sighed turning back to the tv which was just recapping the last week and all the events that had happened with some relation to Fais. Aydin turned back to her book highlighting and scribbling in the margins.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Shoto pulled off his shirt changing quickly into his sleep pants leaving his torso uncovered. He glanced in the mirror. The deep slash in his side was bandaged but the dark red dried blood was visible through the white, standing out against his creamy skin, broad shoulders and muscled torso. He'd filled out over the years from school to present, constant training and building up his body and stamina to keep up with Izuku, Katsuki. His shoulder had a bandage as well from another slice he'd taken that day. The corner of his mouth pulled in. Aydin was going to have a field day when she got into bed. Especially with how worried and in need of contact she had been earlier. Shoto walked to bed plugging his phone in and grabbing a pair of reading glasses off his bedside table he collected the book he had been reading and indulged in its pages waiting for Aydin to finish in the bathroom. He was already enthralled with his book when the door opened as Aydin walked out. He stopped reading but kept his eyes on the book. "Sho-chan, what are those?" She asked standing halfway to the bed glaring at him, her hands on her hips.

"They aren't serious, just a few scratches" he lied. Setting the book down with the marker in it. "You want to see don't you?" He stated she nodded sharply. He sighed, rolling so he was seated on the edge of the bed, closing his eyes, he pulled the bandages away.

Aydin walked over to inspect the cuts. She prodded making him hiss at the influx of pain. She just rolled her eyes, "Every time" she sighed, caressing his face locking eyes with him. "May I love?" She asked, straddling his hips placing her hands on his torso near both wounds. He nodded stiffly taking even breaths. Her eyes glowed a bright golden green as her quirk activated, Shoto's skin starting to knit itself back together, on his side and shoulder, the flesh obeying her command as she healed his wounds. His muscles swelling and the scar tissue that had been starting to build up again near his left shoulder decreased. Allowing him to not hear crunching noises as he moved it. Anti-autonomy or organic flesh manipulation was her quirk. If she had touched someone in the last 2 weeks she could force their body to do almost anything she wished, be it dance or lock up all their joints in their left side. She could bring you to your knees literally. Or she could coax a body to heal itself faster than normal or split apart. It was like losing all bodily autonomy. In a fight it could be devastating, during many a sparring match at U.A. she had won without making a single move, however she preferred to use it as a healing tool, her ability could cause a massive debate about how she should be regulated if she was a practicing pro-hero who fought crime.

He sighed as the stinging retreated and he was left as good as new. "Thank you Aydin" he smiled up at her warmly.

"Shoto, please be careful."

"I am careful, Love. But these things happen and come along with the job." He said pulling her further into his lap as he moved back onto the bed, leaning against the headboard. His hands danced under her sleep shirt; while her hands dropped lower and lower on his torso.

He groaned and turned off the lights before advancing, flipping over her getting ready to thoroughly enjoy the time between now and when they actually went to sleep.

When Shoto woke the house was empty, Aydin was already gone, as was Takea who had been dropped off at daycare. Shoto padded into the kitchen, opening the fridge to find a plate with eggs, rice, broccoli and bacon on it, as well as a note, "Swing by UA at 1 if you can, I have Katsuki coming in as well, its for my seminar course on hero theory we are discussing villain vs hero laws and how they hurt and help both heros civilians and set up villains for success." He pocketed the note as he pulled out his phone to check his schedule, he could make that work, if he remembered right, theory was first then she had the third years for practical hero training. He definitely wanted to watch that, as did Bakugo he was sure, the festival was coming up and any insight he had before making intern or work study offers the better.

He spent the morning in his study he was recounting the last week of Fais' activity, hoping something would help link them together. A hero was caught outside of the police station, with evidence in his pocket that he'd been using his quirk and fame for some rather unsavory and illegal fun. A villain who had been able to skirt around the laws for a while was dumped in town hall with a stack of incriminating records next to him. He poured through the logs, he read a solid five to seven other incidents that he could directly link to Fais. Including what had caused Shoto to chase after him, Fais didn't have a license so even though he was doing good work at times, he was also outside of the law. It made him a dangerous target, while part of him agreed that what Fais did was needed, he was doing so in a way that didn't allow for any responsibility on Fais' part. He'd seen him in an alley, he'd tied up another bad guy, the villain had from the look of it been going after a young girl, she had scratches on her face and slashes in her shirt and torso, luckily nothing too deep. Fais had been helping the girl to her feet, he watched as Fais had dusted the girl off and helped her out to the crowded street, exchanging a few words of advice before patting her on the back lifting into the air, floating back into the alley snatching up the villain. He'd asked the girl if she was ok, she had said she was fine now and that whoever that was had saved her from the scary man. That's when he acted, he'd darted after Fais down the alleyway, Fais slipped into the window of an old building. He thought he'd gotten the jump on him. Sadly he'd been mistaken, he dove through the window his ice slicking over the whole floor his fire cracking to life covering the whole left side of his body. He knew better than to be sure of anything when diving head first into a situation, but he hadn't expected to be hit as soon as he landed. He'd yelled in surprise as something torn into his side lacerating his skin and costume. He stumbled for a half second before regaining his balance and composure, another laceration whizzed by him, slicing into his shoulder. He looked up expecting to see Fais setting up to fight him instead he saw Fais whispering into someone's ear the villain from below, Fais had untied them, he was smiling. Shoto starred in alarm it wasn't a malicious smile, just a quiet warm one. "He was trying to rape that girl, oh and do watch out for his blades, he's quite adept at using them. We don't need another good hero going down for being over confident." Shoto quirked up an eyebrow, hadn't Fais noticed they both were stuck? He'd iced over their shoes and calves. Fais released the villain giving him a small push forward, much to Shoto's surprise when he walked through it like it wasn't there, phasing through solid ice. Then Fais sank into the ground himself phasing through the floor leaving Shoto occupied while he got away. He tallied the quirks that Fais had shown so far, flying through the air hinted at something element based, so did the ineffectiveness of his ice. Phasing through solid objects was a known one, it was his signature move, hence the play on words with his name also being Fais. But there was another Fais had shown off, some sort of control move, he'd untied a villain spoken to him and let him go and from the looks of it the villain had followed his orders. This was noteworthy if Fais had a body or mind control quirk too he'd have to be even more cautious when dealing with the notorious vigilante. 

* * *

He walked through his old high school towards class 3-S the seminar room. He saw Katsuki sitting off to the side by the stage door. Both were in their full costumes, since they were coming in to help as guest pros they should go in as their hero personas to keep their cover. Well as much as they could, even though Shoto went by his own name. Even here there were secrets they had to be careful of, as far as the class knew he and Bakago were just alumni the school had asked a favor of. What they didn't know is that they were friends with their teacher who was just as powerful as any of the top heroes out saving the world. The side door burst open Aydin leaping through the door tackling the blonde haired man. "Aghhh get off me fucking puppet master!" Bakago yelled shoving at his friend's sides. Shoto chuckled watching the boy fight against the fiery woman who grabbed his face kissing his cheek. "Arghhh! Fucking move!" He yelled again finally managing to hurl the smaller of the two off him. She laughed twisting in the air landing lightly on her feet, she held out her hand to the grumpy blond on the floor, he snarled at her "not like it makes a bit of God damned difference now." He said clasping her hand letting her drag him up.

"Good to see you're still you Kacchan" she laughed clapping him on the shoulder. "So today the class is going to be a discussion among pro's and the class about the laws pros must abide by and how that ties their hands in fighting crime and helping people. How quirks are managed and allowed to be used in combat and public situations where civilians are present. The idea behind this is that after the class they pick a law that heroes must abide by and rewrite it to be more practical and helpful in the future." Aydin told them. "I just wanted you to be prepared, since they sure as hell will be. They are in their 3rd year, and are chomping at the bit to get out in the field, but still need some serious guidance. I'm going to go in and start class if you two can be quiet you can wait in the back." She said focusing on Bakago when mentioning the silent part.

"Ehh! Stop staring at me, I can be quiet!" He yelled only causing both Shoto and Aydin to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Right," Aydin said slowly, opening the door. "And remember they only know we were classmates, not that we are friends. They know I'm married, they know Shoto is married, but they don't know it's too one another." she said. "So be careful about what comes out of your mouth, Kacchan. I am not above making you do an impromptu showing of Swan Lake." She threatened, he glared back at her but also seemed to heed her warning.

Shoto stayed quiet relaxing against the wall as his wife ran back up the stairs to start her class. "God damned woman, Takea is gonna have a hell of a time being a regular teenager with her." Bakago seethed, Shoto just chuckled.

"Yeah, she really can put the fear of God into just about anyone." Shoto's lips quirked up into a smirk. "Even you."

"Hey, I never said anything about fear Icy Hot!" Bakago snarled but kept his voice low only adding to Shoto's bemusement. Bakago snarled again, cursing as he walked to a table with lapel mics and transmitters attached to them. He clipped on the mic, shoving the transmitter into a pocket. Shoto followed suit clipping the transmitter to his belt before returning back to the side wall.

Both of their ears perked up as Aydin explained to the class that the two pro's who were going to be helping with class were asked to come in as a special request from the principal since they were some of the top heroes the country had. They had been picked from her own graduating class to help the three of them have a more effective conversation that would benefit the class. She laid out the rules for them and how she expected them to behave as a class. She made it clear that these two had been kind enough to come in voluntarily; and if the students couldn't be respectful than she had no issue asking them to leave and get an automatic fail for the assignment that would be given at the end of class. She gave instructions for them to write down three questions and then pass the papers forward to the first person who would then place them into the bin at the head of the class. The class quieted to a hush out of fear and the new instructions she'd given. "Fear of God." Shoto said leaning lazily against the wall.

While Bakago cursed venomously under his breath. "How the fuck did you marry that woman she's like the exact opposite of you?"

"She is both so similar to me and so opposite that we seem to balance each other out." He mused, shrugging. "Strong willed, smart, confident, loving, compassionate," starting to list.

"Snarky, hyperactive, quick tempered, uncontrollable, conniving." Bakago countered.

"It's a balancing act." Shoto shrugged. "Just like you have with Midoriya-kun."

"Now with all the questions in, I'll bring out our two pros who will be joining us today for our discussion on hero vs villain theory and how the laws set forth by the council and government help and hurt our heroes, our villains and our civilians both those with and without quirks," Aydin quickly reframed the discussion topic, it was a necessary task since all the seminars were filmed and placed online for all the students and alumni to watch. Aydin Henkan's class was one of the most sought after electives. The hero course students were required to take it all three semesters of their third year. While it was open to the other course semester by semester, it had a very limited number of available spots. "Without wasting to much more of your time please join me in welcoming two of the top heroes in the world and U.A. alumni Ground Zero and Shoto." Aydin announced having switched to the lapel microphone she had been wearing earlier.

Shoto and Bakago climbed up the stairs and walked out onto the stage. Three tall chairs were in a half circle with the step up podium, which Aydin was perched on top of, always the unconventional teacher. The students exploded into ruckus applause for the two heroes as they walked to sit down with one of the school's favorite teachers.

Bakago walked over throwing himself into the closest seat. "Long time no see Henkan-chan." he mused looking up at her from his spot.

"Aydin-chan," Shoto said inclining his head, "It is good to see you again, thank you for inviting us."

"It's good to see you both again." she smiled at them leaping down from the podium landing lightly. She gave Shoto a quick hug, looking back at Bakago before deciding to leave him be, and sat down in the chair opposite him leaving Shoto with the middle seat. "So you both know why you were asked to be here, why don't we jump straight into the questions." Aydin said grabbing a paper out of the basket of questions. The other two nodded in agreement as Aydin turned to the class reading one of the questions on the piece of paper she had selected. "What has classified the vigilante Fais as a target, and do you agree with his actions?" Aydin placed the card on the table.

"Alright then diving into the deep end right away," Shoto mused.

"So it seems," Aydin shrugged raising up the card that had the question. "Alright Ground Zero your agency has been tailing Fais for quite some time now, you should have a pretty solid take on that one." Aydin opened the door leading Bakago into the discussion.

Bakago stiffened, thinking for a moment before picking his words carefully. He knew Aydin was the theory seminar course teacher for a reason, she had a knack for playing devil's advocate and making it sound perfectly reasonable. It was something he hated about her and loved. He knew she would be able to provide some excellent insights, he'd been toying with talking to her about his investigation for a while. But he knew that right now talking to her would come with a high risk of her making him look like an idiot at least once. He also was in an auditorium full of students and they couldn't go at the discussion in nearly the same screaming, cursing, beat the crap out of one another in the gym adult way that was characteristic of them. "Fais is dangerous because they have such a strong influence on the civilian and villain community, they're operating in a way that is very similar to Stain from when we were in school. But Fais also has no license as far as we've been able to tell. Since they stepped into the spotlight, many of the traits light up the same category that All For One did. Multiple quirks, one of which is some sort of persuasion quirk which brings with it a whole other host of legalities. They have a hierarchy system in place and absolutely none of them know Fais' true identity, or if they do are incapable of sharing it. It's on a level that keeps villains flowing into the ranks, heroes on edge since if they step out of line Fais has shown that they don't differentiate between heroes and villains; a bad person is all the same to them. The fact that they have a list of untouchable pros just recently came to light, and this only increased the support from the public. If you look at the acts they can't technically be classified under the normal crimes a villain would commit but they are still operating without a license" to Aydin's surprise Bakago was very candid in his reply, which is what she hoped for especially since this was an open discussion with her, Shoto and the entire 3rd year hero course students.

"So it sounds like you are agreeing with his actions but not the method? But are also worried because of the huge following," Aydin concluded.

"Basically. The direction Fais is headed in now isn't necessarily a bad one, in fact he's been helping bring in more crime than ever before, the council just doesn't want anyone to know that. Fais is also a major threat since if they turn to the path All for One took he already has a large support base." Bakago let a little more information out.

"Wait Fais has helped lower crime rate?" Aydin asked shocked, Bakago nodded. "And the council is hiding that?" He nodded again. "So to be a good person and stand up for those around us and those in need they are basically confining it to saying we need to own a license to make that call and be a decent human." She asked looking over at him, he just glared at her as she spun the conversation into a new direction.

"While I, and many other pros may disagree, sadly our laws tie everyone's hands a bit in this case." Shoto concluded shifting forward in his seat in case he had to grab the blonde who's hand was crackling next to him. Bakago looked ready to dive across the tea table in front of them at her. "Fais without a license is outside of the law. However not everyone has the same motives as Fais so keeping his success quiet is logical, to not spark copycats." Shoto continued "The reason we have the laws in the first place is to help manage the use of quirks so they aren't abused, or used in an inappropriate way, as heros we've been trained to use them."

"So if Fais was a licensed hero he'd be ok?" Aydin challenged the two heros in front of her.

"I'll have to ponder that one, cause I doubt if that were the case that he would have the same support, or even be able to achieve the odd level of peace he's maintaining now."

"If they were licensed it would be an entirely different conversation since one of Fais' quirks is of the persuasion or mind tampering variety. Our council, as you know personally Henkan-chan, has some incredibly strict guidelines and ideas on the subject, especially when it comes to body autonomy." Bakago mused diving into the conversation again, having recovered from Aydin yanking the proverbial rug out from under him, he was attempting to turn the tide and do it to her now.

"Of course," Aydin turned to the class, "alright can anyone in the room tell me the council's rules on quirks that use any type of physical or mental override allowing the user to gain bodily or mental autonomy from their victim?" Aydin asked, hands shooting up in the audience.

"As pertaining to the hero laws Quirks cannot be used publicly by any non-licensed hero. Quirks cannot be used to injure other persons under any circumstances without just cause and a hero license. Heroes quirks must be registered in the public database (can be changed). Quirks can be used for self-defense purposes when in distress or present danger. But as it regards to quirks with the ability to exert control over others the issue of consent is raised as well as the issue of power and where each party's actions begin and end causing quite the grey area, making it hard for those with body or mind control quirks to gain popularity or even obtain a license to begin with." the student she called on recited. Bakago's face twisted not even a stutter on her part, it was going to be hard to even remotely turn the tides on her in her own classroom.

"Ok so from that what are some obstacles that those with manipulation powers face?" She asked the class. Hands flew into the air all around the room, Aydin scanned and pointed to one of the general studies students.

She stood up. "Consent is the number one issue and what is authorized and what is not by the person who is being manipulated. This makes it a very large grey area and it can turn it into a pointing fingers, or a he said she said situation. Unless verified consent can be confirmed and that they know exactly what they are consenting too. But in the world of crime, using it to bring someone down is tedious, and can cause monumental backlash. Or even a finger pointing back at the hero blaming them, saying that the hero is responsible for the villians actions to bring up their popularity or numbers."

Bakago nodded "That is why it's such a difficult subject, most of the time we are unable to tell if those in the group have given consent or not, or if they are cognizant of what they are doing or if they are just messing with us. It very much is a game and right now Fais is winning it, they are very aware of the laws and are using it to their advantage. Other times Fais will use other villains then to fight heroes while they get away and then the villains with just stop fighting and allow capture. Which is another grey area in of itself."

"He is definitely, smart and has quite the understanding of how to work the system." Shoto confirmed. "He has definitely put thought into this and has a plan of how to work the system and manipulate the grey areas to gain support even when not in the law, sounds almost like he's taken your course here Aydin."

"Well they may have, their rise definitely fits within the time-line of when I started teaching here." She said, "but it also comes down to motive, is Fais doing this to create chaos? Prove a point, gain support before the next step or are they trying to do some good." Bakago's eyes widened with the new lead, "You'll have to ask the school for those records." Aydin reminded the blonde, he smirked nodding to show he understood her side comment to him.

This found the first question to be at a natural stopping point. Aydin picked up the basket and leaned over to Shoto, he reached in and snatched up a card. He read through it his lips curling in a frown his eyes showing a sadness that the other two instinctively knew meant this hit close to home for him, and that they should tread carefully. "While in school, could you ever see yourself where you are now and what made it possible for you to get where you are today?" Shoto inclined his head towards Bakago, wordlessly telling him to go ahead.

"I could, ever since I was little I could, I had my dream and nothing was ever going to get in my way in my mind. I still battle it out everyday with Deku and Shoto for that top spot, and the friendly rivalry we share has definitely made it an easier climb. But I could always see myself as a hero and I always knew I was heading for the top." He explained.

"That's true, in school you were always confident of where you were going, it truly drove the rest of our class to keep up with the rivalry you and Deku-kun had. Whether you knew it or meant to you both always pushed the rest of us to be better, work harder and to always be upping our game. Aizawa-san and I had an extensive conversation about it when I first started teaching here. For me, being in the class dragged me up to their level to a certain extent, but I always knew I wasn't destined to be a top hero. I'm much better at the strategy side, planning and theorizing than the fighting. I don't have a quirk that is suited for the top levels." Bakago snorted in derision at that comment.

"That is a load of shit Henkan-chan." He said quirking an eyebrow at her daring her to fight him on it. "You took me, Deku and even Shoto here out everytime we spared. You just didn't want to deal with the backlash of an autonomy quirk and the scandal of it being the top hero's quirk. I'm pretty sure even with you being out of the game for the last bit of time you could still take me out." He challenged.

"Well lucky for you then that I'm not you. I never saw myself in the role at the top I saw myself in the intelligence side, I saw the strategy and the end game planning, it's not that I won't fight, it's just that I find the puzzle of it all much more interesting. I'd rather build people into great heroes than be constantly subjected to scrutiny and the wrath of a council that has never been in the shoes of a hero with an autonomy quirk. I still have my license but you know I prefer to use my quirk in a support role rather than a take down setting."

"Says the hero who brought All for One literally to his knees" Bakago hissed. Whispers fired up all around the room as he said that. "See not even your students know or realize just how insanely powerful and incredible of a hero they have teaching them. Corpus Iuris, the hero who with a single touch can take complete control of her opponents body in all facets. Helping us bring down All for One because he underestimated what looked like mild speed and strength enhancement quirk."

"Careful, we have sparing after this I may just take you up on your offer… and we spared three weeks ago, you know I'm not rusty." She whispered, her mic flipping off for a few moments while she threatened the blonde, Shoto looked at Bakago amused by the proceedings, Bakago glanced over realizing quickly that if he dug this hole any deeper, he wasn't going to be getting any help out of it. "I may have helped with that but I hardly deserve all the credit. You, Shoto and Deku did most of the work, I was just a fail safe." Aydin said after turning the mic on again so the rest of the room could hear again. "It wasn't a conclusion I came to lightly though, when I was little I was set on that number one hero spot, but now I know that it's not a feasible dream and that I can still help and contribute but not in as direct a way as Shoto, and you do." Aydin finished.

Shoto sighed knowing it was his turn. "Honestly, no I never saw this because this originally wasn't my dream, it was my father's dream for me. The only thing I ever heard was number 1 or nothing at all. It took a lot of work and effort for me to be able to distance myself from that mentality since it was all I ever heard growing up. In school I had to learn how to be happy with what I wanted and who I was. Which is a difficult task with a father who is so controlling and has such a say in everything you do. While my father is still not happy, I'm finally able to not let his thoughts and motivations impact me. When I was younger, I thought I had to be at the top, I was forced into this and only in the last few years have I been able to truly come to terms with it and the demons that I shouldered and be happy with the choices that I have made for myself and my family." Shoto said "It wasn't easy but I found what worked for me. It would have never been possible without making the bonds I did here at UA. The people who you surround yourself with here will forever shape you for better or for worse and the people I found here, Ground Zero, Deku, My wife, Aydin, Creati, Red Riot, and Ingenium, they helped me become who I am and molded me for the better." he brought the conversation back to the question.

"I've found that to be very accurate, people shape to be most like the people they surround themselves with, and by the situations that they are put into and have dealt with in the past or are dealing with presently." Aydin used his confession as a springboard to change the topic a bit, and moving on from the delicate subject, knowing just how hard it was for him to talk about. Aydin and Bakago were shocked the stoic man had said as much as he did. "Many times people don't start off evil. Being a villain isn't an inherited trait it is something that is triggered or the people and situations you are in fashion that behaviour into you through years until a single thing or a chain of events cause them to snap, but everyone's threshold is different and it is constantly changing." Aydin said "The human mind is a delicate thing, and most of the time, our heroes and our villains have a lot more in common than anyone likes to admit, just look at our graduating year, Phantom Thief was in the hero course, and had some fantastic potential when he wasn't being an over competitive idiot, but he ended up falling into crime due to unfortunate circumstances just after graduation."

"I have to agree with that actually, I know that Aydin, alone has been a rock for me when I have felt things getting too overwhelming, whether she meant to be or not is another story. I've definitely appreciated having the support system that I do." Bakago said, "We all need the people around us and we all lean on one another it makes us stronger, look around you, no really do it," He waited as the audience glanced left and right, "These are the people you can lean on, they will understand you and what we go through better than any civilian, they are the ones that will always have your back, whether it be silently holding you up or in my case screaming at you in the library when you're being an idiot, while your boyfriend tries to hold you back and just ends up being dragged through the doors behind you." Bakago said looking pointedly at Aydin causing both her and Shoto to burst out laughing. "Cause honestly I needed both of those things at the same time." He said managing to lighten the mood considerably as the room laughed at the image. "Ok next question pass the basket IcyHot." Shoto rolled his eyes but held the basket out to Bakago. He reached in snagging a piece of paper uncurling it. "Interesting, we finally have a question that'll involve Henkan-chan probably stepping up to play devil's advocate against us." He smirked clearing his throat. "Currently in this day and age, our citizens are restricted by laws to only self defense in dire situations, but otherwise are left to fend for themselves and at the mercy of nearby heros. Recently we have seen an influx of anti-hero proposals, from disbanding the government assigned hierarchy entirely to expanding provisional licenses to citizens so they can help when a pro is nowhere to be found. What in your opinion is the best way to tackle this problem?" Bakago finished the question turning to Shoto and nodded for him to go first.

"I'd have to say at the moment with how things are written, that it puts all the pressure on the pros. The laws never define dire and have been known to come down harshly on those who defend themselves to and 'unnecessary' extent. I'd go with a more regulated schedule for pro agencies to be spread out more evenly and with time tables for patrols so the whole city is routinely covered." Shoto said.

"Oh yea lets just give the villains a time table for when to commit crimes, and which agency has what pros so they can coordinate quirks to get them an advantage." Aydin snapped sighing and shaking her head at the idea.

Shoto's eyes bugged at how fast his wife had soundly shut his idea down. He quickly regained composure countering back. "Point made, Aydin-chan. Then a constantly changing schedule that is randomized and the area covered by each agency switched around constantly."

"I don't think that tackles the base of the issue. And a schedule like that can be easily hacked and found out about still."

"No the issue is people don't feel safe, and want to have a safety net at all times." Bakago added. "I'd keep things normal since patrols are a normal thing it'd be strange to everyone if they changed. A hotline to standby pros would be an idea to play with."

"You mean calling the police? That basically does the same thing." Aydin was on top of them at every turn.

They kept throwing out ideas but they slowly realized just how much they were in her court and she had a massive home field advantage right now. "The majority of crimes take less than a minute to commit, if we had to call a number like we already do it won't change anything. Even if it went right to the on call hero, then you'd get fanboys calling, you'd get false tips to the wrong place. The police are at least trained in how to notify heroes of exactly the situation and where it is, civilians don't have that training, and trying to get a hysterical person to make sense is no easy task. It would create a longer wait time not a shorter one. 80% of the population already has a quirk but currently we can't use it, thus they are turned into bystanders; even if they have a quirk that could help. Or what about the people on the street that are hurt everyday, self defense is one thing but helping another person and being a good Samaritan is banned in our current laws. If we had the ability to use a citizen's arrest we could give power back to the people instead of making people wait for the hotshot pro to maybe show up and help. Not every crime is reported either and some at the time they are going on there is no way you could phone for help. There are times when people hang back and hold off and wait for a hero to come but none do, cause even with all the pros we have they still miss things they can't be everywhere. Pro heroes still have lives outside of their jobs, families and things that take their time outside of work. But if we had a law that allowed a normal civilian to use their quirk for self defense or to help those in need around them to keep their community safe, either until a pro got there or the police it would tackle the issue of safety. At no point would anyone be forced to stand up if they weren't comfortable with it since its a personal voluntary act. It would still have to have similar guidelines as the heroes do though but with the understanding that as citizens a council can not hold them to the same standards, while also acknowledging that people want to defend their homes and 'll give them something that doesn't rely solely on us heros to save everyone and everything. It gives some of the power back to them and pulls some of it off us when we can't be everywhere at all times." Aydin finished, looking over both men looking annoyed, Shoto looked exasperated on top of it. While Bakago looked ready to launch himself forward yet again. Shoto had a sneaking suspicion Aydin had locked his joints on him to keep him in place, as he turned bright red, and Aydin gave him a challenging stared down until he broke eye contact and visibly relaxed.

"Have I ever told you I hate it when you get on the devil's advocate train" Shoto said shaking his head. "All of those points are valid and I have to agree with most of them, however getting the council to loosen the reigns will be difficult and I don't think they will unless forced." Shoto said "They have a lot of control right now and allowing civilians to have different expectations would bring up a lot my case by case work and situations where they will get away with more than a pro which won't make pros happy either."

"True, but it will also force villains to think carefully because if they act it now isn't just a gamble of if a pro is nearby, it's also a gamble of a pro/good Samaritans are in the area, increasing the chances they are caught."

"You really though all of the angles out." Shoto smiled nodding his head in acknowledgment and agreement.

"I do teach this as a class." Aydin said smirking back at the man.

The class continued as they shifted between talking as a group and as just the three pros at the front of the room. The questions going from some being in depth discussions of theory to others of most embarrassing thing they had done and gotten in trouble for as a pro hero. Aydin laughed as the class was dismissed, it had been one of the best classes yet. It had almost been an insight into her living room and one of the conversations that they all would have had over coffee and dessert, minus Izuku, and with a lot less cursing between her and Katsuki. As they retreated to backstage Shoto relaxed no longer having to keep his hands to himself he gripped Aydin's hips spinning her as he tugged her back into his chest. She wrapped her arms around him smiling as she melted against the broad chest of the man whom she had supported for so long. A man whom she had coaxed out of the shell of a scared abused boy, into a strong and content man who now understood just how detrimental his father had been to him. "I think that went pretty well." Shoto mused, as her lips brushed his collar bone lightly as she hugged him back. "Even you two managed to keep your head about you without you two getting into a scuffle like normal." he smirked as Bakago grumbled at the dual haired man.

"You know Kacchan, you never told me that me screaming at you that one day in the library was what brought you back to center." Aydin said turning out of her husband's embrace as she lead the way back towards her office to get her stuff for the practical hero training course.

"Yea, something about you coming barging in literally screaming about how I needed to wisen up cause there were people around me who actually cared and running off like that was an idiotic and selfish move, all while dragging Shoto behind you is hard to forget."

"I wasn't dragging him." Aydin mumbled.

"Uhh yea, you were, he had his hands on you hips and was leaning away from you with both feet on the ground, it looked like he was on a pair of skis behind you trying to get you to stop from barging in." Katsuki laughed ruffling Aydin's hair.

"Watch it Firecracker, I'm still deciding if I should take you out or not at this next training exercise, especially after you nearly started a fight on stage with me." She sneered flattening her hair back down.

"Bring it Puppet-Bitch."

"Think you're funny do you, try it again and I'll have you riverdancing, Smokebrains."

"Riverdancing?! Is that the best you have."

"Would you rather tutu and Sugarplums?"

Shoto laughed as they walked the two old friends sniping back and forth as they made there way to the field after the quick pit stop at her office where she changed into her hero costume. 

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait, this chapter is quite a bit longer. Let me know what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The fight started quietly they had five minutes to either finish the fight or it would be a draw and the students would judge who won. The slow start was uncharacteristic of Ground Zero, his quirk using explosions almost always meant he started his fights with a bang. However here he was trying to keep his distance if at all possible. Aydin had agreed to not use her quirk on him until she came into contact with him during the fight. He was glad for the playing field to be evened out, because without that concession on her part he'd have been tap dancing the second Shoto blew the start whistle. They circled one another gauging the other carefully, one of them had to attack first but both of them also knew who ever did first was going to decide the fight. Bakago knew he had to attack first, she was to fast for range attacks so he had to get close, but he'd only have time for one attack and if he missed it or improperly gauged her it would be over. She stepped across her dominant leg behind her, keeping her hips open to watch him. That was it, dominant leg back she was the most off balance she could be; he exploded forward his hands propelling him towards the smaller woman. Her eyes widen, had he gotten her? After the last six years of sparing and losing to her in spectacular fashion had he won? He moved both of his hands forward to unleash a deafening explosion into her chest. Then her eyes narrowed and a small warm smile graced her face, and she moved leaping to the side her hand whipping out as if to push off of thin air. 'No!' he thought his as he registered what she had just done and the trap she had laid; he'd fallen into it completely. She moved agilely around him her fingers tracing his elbow to shoulder as he passed her. His body locking up joints immobilizing, muscles going lacks, his quirk stopping the explosion only igniting to half of its normal power. He hit the ground behind her crumpling into a limp heap, motionless, while Aydin stood tall, her outstretched arm blistered, burnt and red, the cloth of her costume was still on fire, but she had won. Shoto blew the whistle signaling the end. Katsuki whirled on her as she released him, his eyes calculating and narrowed. He sighed shaking his head, "Everytime." he snarled, he opened his mouth to say more but then looked at Shoto and closed his mouth biting his lip.

The whole class went from dull conversational whispers to dead silence as they stared at their teacher, eyes wide, finally realizing just how powerful she was. They had witnessed her take down the current number 3 hero in a flash. It had barely been a fight before she had overpowered him. "Alright we are going to be pairing you up this will be an inter-class activity. You will not know your pairing until you hit the battlefield and you will all be doing so at the same time! You will have 5 minutes to fight then the buzzer will sound, if the fight is not already over. We will then break down on the fly strategy and what you did well and what were some opportunities you can work on in the future." Aydin explained to the class handing each of them a number 1-20 in an envelope which told them which arena to go too. They weren't allowed to tell each other what the numbers were. All of them nodded curtly and hurried off still in shock by the power that she had displayed.

After they all left Katsuki dove at Aydin again, she turned with him gripping the cross strap of his costume and slammed him into the ground as he kicked her leg out from under her. She landed heavily on top of the blonde smirking at him. Shoto rolled his eyes, pulling Aydin up and off of Bakago. "Careful" he said a protective arm around her, "I don't think you want to deal with the 2 on 1 situation."

"Whatever Icy Hot, you aren't the threat, especially with your wife here." He snarled.

"Lucky me then. I never have to worry that she can't take care of herself." He said following Aydin into the observation room where 20 TVs were set up and 40 chairs behind them in sets of two with a monitor on the desk between them.

"Yea, I just have to worry about you not being able to deal." She jabbed back smiling as she tucked her head into his chest. They stood watching the monitors split screen on the waiting room. Once all the students were ready and on the different sides of their arenas Aydin pressed a button starting the countdown, and on one the curtain dropped. They knew who they were fighting, improvising and being able to quickly adapt and think on their feet was going to be a huge advantage here, and Aydin had paired them up accordingly.

Real world applications right off the bat for the 3rd year students. All across the monitors the aspiring heroes clashed some were smarter than others in adapting, others floundered, panicked and forgot how to adjust to their opponent. As the 3 heroes scanned the fights they switched between nods of approval, concern, barely veiled amusement, and shock. A knock came at the door in the last 2 minutes of the fights, Aydin stepped out of Shoto's arms moving to open the door. Izuku smiled back at her from the other side "Zu!" she laughed as he stepped into the room hugging his friend completing the top hero trio in the room. He walked across the room surveying the monitors as he came to a halt next to Bakago, the blonde raising an arm and putting it over the shorter man's shoulders quickly yanking him sideways into a possessive hold. "Had to come get a look at the 3rd years?" Aydin asked scanning the monitors as the fights came to a close, only a few had finished faster than the 5 minute time limit.

Izuku nodded leaning his head against the blonde's shoulder, his costume still on from his day at work. "When I heard Shoto and Kachan were going to be here I couldn't let them get a step up in scouting, especially a class that has had your guidance Aydin-chan all three years." he laughed scratching the back of his head.

"Well good" Aydin said, "now you three can help me grade each side and figure out who won. The class is going to come in and sit in their pairings and watch all the fights but their own and take notes then we are going to share notes all together. Then us as pros give a breakdown of the fight and what the grade is. Then they all vote on who won lost or if its a tie, we are the tie-breakers." Aydin said explaining the exercise. "You three can start looking over the video's on that screen, I have spare paper in my teaching bag for notes." Bakago nodded walking to her bag to gather the paper and pencils, he stooped down to look through it; shuffled the papers in her bag around trying to find the blank paper behind her notes and lesson plans. Aydin watched the door, while Shoto and Izuku were already in discussion about one of the fights, no one noticed Kacchan shove a piece of paper into a pocket of his costume. The hero course students shuffled in minus a few who'd taken their partner to Recovery Girl, or in one case both had gone since their situation was more dire and in need of immediate healing.

The whispers exploded again as they caught sight of the teal green costume. The big three. The class was wide eyed staring at their teacher, she had gone to school with them, the top three heroes in the world, and she had even beaten one of them and from the sound of their earlier classes was on par with number one, Deku. Aydin sat on top of her desk her legs crossed waiting for everyone to settle down. She could hear the boys behind her pausing the video rewinding then arguing and tapping the screen as they worked together to grade the fights. "You all know the drill, if your partner is here work together if not, pair up with someone else who doesn't have a partner." she called to the class, watching them all get settled before walking back to join the big three, and help grade and vote on who won which fight. For the most part they all agreed about each fight and were done and ready to provide insight and training tips to the youngsters in the class who, as driven as they were, were having a difficult time focusing with the big three in the room. Aydin noticed as she faced her class from the far side of the table where she was standing next to Izuku. She turned away from the desk and walked to the front of the room "If you want to be where these three are, I suggest you study your film and stop gawking at them, I can tell you these three were in the top 5 of our class both in academics and in hero classes. And they didn't get there by stargazing at our teacher and the number one hero at that time All-Might." She quirked a menacing eyebrow at the 34 students in the class, all of whom nodded and apologized quickly and quietly before dropping their heads to the monitors.

As she walked back over Shoto bumped her shoulder leaning in to the middle and whispered "Fear of God."

Izuku and Aydin laughed while Aydin shrugged and Bakago yelled in aggravation "Argh! Shut up Half n Half!" this only had Aydin and Izuku laughing harder.

"Back to work." Aydin called not turning around, causing Izuku to burst into another fit of laughter, Shoto to smirk and Bakago to let out a loud groan. As he watched all the heads drop in the reflection of the dark screen above them drop back to their desks.

Aydin allowed for a few extra minutes as the class watched and sorted through the last of the videos. The big three as pros and her as the teacher had already raw scored each of the students and were now taping different points on the clipboard and discussing them. Bakago excused himself to go to the bathroom. When he came back the group was discussing one of the fights that had been closer to a draw. "To me I know what both of you are capable of, you are best friend's so you both know what the other can do."

"So why did you pair us up? We don't match up well and we already know the other's strategies!" The purple haired girl complained, she was obviously mad that she was getting downgraded for it, not understanding the reasoning.

Bakago smirked as he walked to the back table gathering the extra blank paper, slipping the paper he'd grabbed earlier back into Aydin's bag before joining the conversation. He dove in, he knew exactly why Aydin had paired them. "She paired you for that exact reason. To see if you could get out of the box and even though you know your opponent, thinking on the fly and creating a new strategy or counter. In a way you had a bigger advantage in this, you know what they are probably going to do next. Being able to think fast smart and out of the box is a huge component to being a pro." Kachan said.

Aydin smiled it was the same reason, she still spared with him on the regular, both with and without their quirks, they knew the other's styles and in that sense could push the other harder than anyone else. "Exactly," Aydin smiled "who in this room know's Shoto's quirk?" every hand shot into the air. "Ok so do you think every villain knows his quirk?" Slowly heads nodded. "So a villain with a fire quirk as well would be smart to stay on his left side, making it harder for Shoto to get him with his ice right?" the classes nodded again. "In situations like that, a pro has to realize and study a situation incredibly fast, devise a plan and be flexible to changing that plan cause, villains know our quirks and styles of fighting, they see pro's on tv and in the news constantly. We don't know the villains, but they know you, out of the box thinking and making sure we don't fall into standard set patterns is essential." The three heroes behind her nodded as Aydin explained where the pair had missed the mark and concept of the training activity.

"Despite us having gone to school together and even though they sparing regularly with and without quirks, I'm 99 percent sure that if Deku and Shoto faced off three times right now, the first ten seconds would be completely different each and every time." Bakago said. "We adapt, study and have to evaluate and notice the smallest of things, it's how we can constantly be the heroes we are. It's how we can be the best, it's how we can find all the villains we do and bring them in so efficiently." Bakago explained leaning back against the table, the others nodded agreeing with his point.

"Ground Zero and I grew up together, and we have used that to keep one another sharp, everytime I know it is going to be a challenge he is one of the best in the business at analysing his opponents, I know if I'm not on my game he can and will win a sparring match." Izuku said putting his hand on Kachan's shoulder. "Being friend's is the best way to help one another grow, it doesn't mean your stuck, Henkan-chan was just trying to show you how much you can benefit one another." Izuku chimed in, the class nodding realizing the match ups were truly done to push them and help them learn and adapt and Aydin had been very deliberate when picking the partners.

When the bell rang at the end of the day all the students had things to work on and a new outlook on how they could utilize one another for sparing, training, and how to study one another to make them better heroes once they graduated. As soon as they were all gone Aydin let out a wide yawn, walking over to grab her bag. "I'm gonna go grab Takea from daycare, and head to the store, Zu, Kachan you two are welcome to swing by for dinner if you'd like." they nodded accepting her offer.

"I have to talk to principal Nezu first," Katsuki said, "but I'll meet you there."

"I have a change of clothes in my car, Shoto you mind if I follow you to the house?" Izuku asked Shoto shook his head as they all walked out of the room.

"Zu, Kachan what do you want for dinner?"

"Not asking me?" Shoto feigned hurt, pulling her against his side.

She laughed poking him in the ribs, their arms settling around one another. "No I'm not because I already know you want soba, you always want soba, I'm just seeing if these two want something different, not everyone is a robot." Aydin teased squeezing him.

"Hey!" Shoto exclaimed unable to hide the smile, he knew she was messing with him.

"Tonkatsu"

"Sukiyaki!"

Aydin laughed "ok I'll pick one of those."

* * *

When Aydin came flying through the door she had a child in one arm with a shopping bag and Takea's daycare bag and her own bag somehow balanced across her body and on her shoulder. The other arm was full as well containing four shopping bags. As soon as she was through the door Takea's eyes fell on Bakago who, for some reason, was her favorite uncle in the world. That's all it took before Takea squealed with delight, and from the look of it, was trying to take a death defying head dive into the hardwood floors, to get out of her mother's arms and run to Katsuki. Aydin yelped dropping bags as she torqued around crashing heavily into the floor back first, Takea, safely landing on top of her. Takea, not registering how incredibly acrobatic and clumsy of a save was just made, hopped off and ran straight to Bakago's legs wrapping her arms around his calf tightly. Bakago howled with laughter as she lay in the entryway on her back scowling at the mini version of herself and Shoto that currently had his leg in a death grip. "You'd thing she hadn't seen you in years." Aydin muttered rolling her eyes, they had been over less than a week ago. She sighed sitting up from the floor and starting to shove spilled contents back into bags.

Shoto stood from his place on the couch, laughing while he crossed the room. Even Izuku laughed at her as Bakago scooped up the small girl and placed her in his lap. Shoto picked her up from the ground as he laughed, gently nuzzling her hair, kissing her cheek before bending to pick up the dropped and spilled shopping bags. She smiled after him and followed him into the kitchen with the other bags. Izuku laid his head against Katsuki's shoulder, his arm snaking around the larger man's waist as Shoto helped Aydin in the kitchen. Takea chattering animatedly to Bakago about her day, as well as an 18 month old could, Izuku watched admiring how Bakago was engaging with the small child between them, he really did love the tiny tike. And she was infatuated with her blonde uncle it was a special bond between them and he loved watching it grow.

Shoto walked out of the kitchen holding Takea's sippy cup full of water. "Would you two like tea or another beer?" Shoto asked grabbing the empty bottles.

"Beers." Bakago replied for both of them. Ruffling the multicolored ringlets on Takea's head the other arm settling over the green haired man's shoulders, he was perfectly content right then with his goddaughter and long time boyfriend next to him. Shoto nodded disappearing into the kitchen for a few moments before returning with bottles of beer. They relaxed in the living room fully knowing if they went into the kitchen that it was fully at the risk of getting vegetables, thrown at them until they left and that was if Aydin was in a good mood, plates and the occasional fork had been known to fly at Bakago's head.

"Did you get the information you wanted from Nezu?" Shoto asked the blonde.

"I did. I've glanced over the information but I haven't looked too in depth on it but from what I've seen it's another dead end, at least so far" Bakago mused, his mouth twisted into a hard line, his mind turning with the other possibilities.

Takea giggled and poked him in the cheek, "Uncle Katsa you look scary like that." she laughed poking his cheek again. His face dropped from the expression, in a snap, his gaze dropped to the little girls. Shoto smiled at the interaction, while Izuku started to laugh. "Do it again!" The little girl laughed. Shoto relaxed in his seat, one leg kicked up on the sofa the other on the floor as his daughter giggled joyfully at the two other top heroes making faces at her, as she tried to replicate them. Aydin walked out of the kitchen carrying her own beer, watching the interaction and smiling at them as she set a timer on her watch and sat down between Shoto's legs leaning back against him. Shoto kissed her temple his arm falling around her as they watched, she snuggled into his broad chest resting her beer on his thigh his beer coming to rest on her hip.

"You know if she gets your ice quirk, Kachan is going to have to watch out," Aydin whispered.

Shoto laughed nodding "Especially since she's got you temper." Aydin smacked his chest gently.

"Hey now,"

"I married you love, that's most definitely not a down side in my book. However if there are two of you I think Kachan would run for the hills."

"I don't think he'll be able to, Takea has a vice grip on him." She murmured as they watched, the timer on her watch went off and Aydin rose from the couch retreating back to the kitchen, Shoto followed her to help set the table for everyone. He moved around the kitchen seamlessly with her, knowing exactly where she was moving so he stayed clear of her moving with hot pots and pans, he wasn't sure if he just knew where she was going after the last three years or if she still was moving him around her as she worked.

She dished up Takea's food and set her highchair between Bakago and herself out in the dining room. Shoto set the serving dishes on the table, Aydin following him with plates and silverware. As Shoto stood from placing the water jug and sake on the table he found a weird feeling takeover his legs, ahh that's what it feels like he mused realizing she now had taken control. He felt himself walking around the table toward Aydin, he smirked at her, a dark red eyebrow raising, and his eyes narrowing, he felt Aydin's control lift as he got to her, but he didn't pause. His hands landed on her hips as he backed her up, her back hitting the dining room wall, she hummed in pleasure as she tilted her head up catching his lips. Her arms going around his torso. "How did I get so lucky?" Shoto asked his head dropping onto hers their foreheads pressed together.

"I could ask you the exact same question Sho." Aydin said turning her head to nuzzle into his neck her lips leaving butterfly kisses down his jawline and neck to his collarbone.

He squeezed her tightly before dropping back a fraction of an inch and brought her chin up to look at him. "Aydin, you could have been with anyone you wanted, yet you picked me," she leaned forward kissing him stopping the words she knew were haunting him and about to come out, she knew he still struggled with feeling adequate, especially after how long he'd been abused by his father.

She pressed into him, fingered threading in his hair "Of course I picked you love," she smiled stroking his left cheek with her thumb cupping the side of his face. "Why would I not choose someone who is so determined, intelligent, strong, captivating, loving, incredible and handsome?" She asked kissing him on each word she used to describe him. "And just in case you didn't already know, you had me the second I saw you."

A voice cleared their throat from the dining room's doorway; breaking up the quiet moment they were sharing. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, but Kacchan…" Izuku trailed off.

Shoto kissed her and let out a sigh, his head resting on Aydin's, turning to face Izuku, "The table is set, if you all want to come in." He said, Izuku nodded going out to get Takea and Kacchan, he slowly stepped back from her frowning as they had to untangle. She let her hand slide down from his cheek down his arm before intertwining their fingers her thumb slipping under his, as they made their way to the table Kacchan entering with Takea under and arm, as she giggled hysterically. Izuku entered just after carrying the beers from the living room in setting them in their respective places around the circular table.

Takea made it through most of the meal, but towards the end you could tell that she had started to get tired cause her head started to droop, she spilt her water, and then when she got bored and fussy which resulted in rice being thrown into Bakago's hair when he ignored her, much to the amusement of everyone at the table. Bakago scowled at the little tike with multicolored hair, as she imitated him and glared back thinking it was a game. Aydin laughed at the amount of personality her child had already started to show, "I think it's time I got this munchkin off to bed," She stood clearing empty plates and Takea's place as well, she reentered the dining room quickly scooping up Takea letting her hug and get her kisses goodnight from the group before she swept the girl up stairs with the bags in the entryway, for Takea's bath and bedtime routine.

Aydin had been upstairs for quite a while, so they had relocated to the living room again with beers and a few sweets Shoto had found in the cupboard, since he and Izuku enjoyed them. Aydin liked sweets ever once in a while putting her much on the same page as Katsuki when it came to dessert. Bakago stood as Shoto and Izuku debated the best way to grade and access the up and coming students. What was the best standard to use from year to year to see who would break into the scene with a bang, and who would flounder and never amount to much. He walked out of the room commenting something about a bathroom to no response, they only vaguely registered the blond walking up the stairs. Bakago walked back in a few minutes later, his mouth in a thin line as he threw himself into the seat next to Izuku glaring at the door when Aydin walked in about eight minutes later. She walked into the kitchen making herself some tea, before joining the others. Bakago scrolled through news feeds on his phone while she relaxed, and added into the conversation Izuku and Shoto were already on.

As the night wore on, Bakago commented at some point that Fais had struck again leaving a criminal out front of the police station. This turned the conversation back to more of the lines of her class that day. Which then ran into Shoto recounting Aydin's blow out match against Bakago, Izuku laughed showing his boyfriend zero sympathy only asking him how he hadn't learned better yet. "Well I don't remember any of us having much luck against her in school, she kicked our butts every year. Even after we understood her quirk, she still won each time." Bakago grumbled.

"I beat her once," Shoto said quietly, "Sports festival our first year, I think she also lost on purpose though" he said daring her to correct him. She only rolled her eyes, he remembered it as if it were yesterday.

….Flashback….

Shoto stared across the arena at the girl with hazel eyes and auburn hair faced off against him. This was going to be interesting, he'd been in school with her for the last month and he still hadn't figured out her quirk, then again none of them had. She was a fiery girl with a temper to match Bakago's, the strength to take him out at the same time and the drive to push to be better everyday. He knew she already had a plan, now he needed one and not knowing her quirk was a huge hindrance. He knew she didn't use it on people much preferring strategy and combat to bring her opponents down. He knew from this month she was one of the best tacticians in the school, and in combat she could go blow for blow with him. A fact that shocked him; his ankle and ribs still tender from the lesson his father had taught him after hearing that another student had beaten him. His eyes watched the clock as it counted down, he started to panic which wasn't like him, he had no idea what to expect though, this girl had knocked everyone else out without even moving. They had simply frozen, then walked out of the rink. He felt the hot glaring eyes of his father from the crowd, his eyes flickering back and forth between the clock and the tall man. Her eyes followed, seeing the fuming fire hero in the stands noticing the quickening in Shoto's breathing and the nervous shifting in his weight that increased as he looked at his father.

He needed a plan. His mind was blank. The clock struck 0. He tried to move. Frozen, he couldn't activate his quirk or move, it felt like a thick fog was holding him in place throughout his body, it was a strange feeling. His heart started to beat erratically, and suddenly he wasn't worried about her anymore, his eyes swung to the crowd. Endeavor was snarling his face turning red, and fast, Shoto knew if he could move he'd be trembling, that look had done exactly what it normally did, activate his fight or flight response and a panic attack along with it this time. His breathing was now erratic to match his heartbeat. All of a sudden he felt his heart slow to normally, his breathing evened out and what felt like soothing hands rubbing up and down his arms. His eyes glanced back to Aydin who was looking at him quizzically, her eyes wide and knowing, she was nodding her head as if she'd put together a difficult puzzle, he felt the weird fog disappear. She knew. He reacted ice flooding the arena freezing her in place. She quirked the outside edge of her lip, he stared at her, his eyes wide and questioning as he crossed the arena. He'd won. He melted the ice around her "did you just let me win?" he asked quietly through his teeth.

She didn't answer, "I got distracted." she said when she could finally move from the ice. "Todoroki-kun before you face Midoriya-kun you should see Recovery Girl about your ankle and those broken ribs." She said quietly as she walked past him her head down, so no one could see her lips. He stood frozen as she walked out of the arena, she had stripped him of his armor in a single go. He'd worked so hard to build up his armor and keep it strong, impenetrable, yet here was Henkan-chan shocking him and rattling him to his core yet again. But this time it wasn't with her strength or power it was with how much he could tell she cared that he was ok right then, knowing he certainly was not. He staggered for a moment, she paused "If you ever need to talk let me know Todoroki-kun, you aren't as alone as you think, you have more people supporting you than you think." He watched as she walked off, he could tell that she knew, and that cared if he was ok, her actions speaking volumes to him. He followed her out of the arena, keeping his distance acknowledging the crowd with a quick short bow before retreating.

"Henkan-chan." he called just before she disappeared down the hall.

"Aydin" She corrected, stopping at the end of the hall. She shocked him yet again the girl he'd watched have a temper that could rival Bakago's, stepped closer to him, her voice soft, "You're not going to go to Recovery Girl are you, Todoroki."

"No, Aydin-chan, I'm not. Please call me Shoto."

She nodded "Ok, Shoto-kun, do you trust me?" His eyes narrowed gauging her intent and movements carefully, before nodding. His heart quickened as his first name slid past her lips.

He swallowed "What are you going to do?" he asked his breath catching as she stepped even closer. His arms suddenly itched to feel how she would feel in his arms.

"Take this off, it's easier." she tapped his gym uniform shirt not answering his question. He felt calm though even in the hallway. She looked up meeting his two color eyes with hers, he pulled the shirt up and off her eyes dragged across the toned muscles on his torso, he was strong, with his shirt he was attractive but without Aydin definitely took a second to appreciate the man in front of her. Only parts here and there were discolored from bruises in different stages of healing, she was pretty sure she was responsible for the one on his hip. But the black mark by his ribs was what concerned her the most as she evaluated and admired him.

"Like what you see?" He asked his voice cold, trying to find some sort of protection, he was distinctly aware of the marks covering his body, the biting words coming out as a shield, a flimsy one but it was all he could muster at the moment.

"Yes, you are quite attractive Shoto," She said bluntly smiling up at him. He should have known she'd be unfazed by his attempt to put up a guard and knock it right back down. She placed two hands on his torso causing him to inhale quickly, he felt like he'd been jolted by and electric current "Sorry my hands tend to be cold" she said looking down, this was a quieter side to the normal fiery girl he was used to.

"Its ok, temperature normally doesn't bother me too much," he said.

She nodded looking back up to meet his eyes, "This will probably sting a fair bit." She said.

"Ok thanks for the heads up" he conceded, as soon as the words were out a stinging sensation ripped through his ankle and ribs, he gasped his eyes going wide she hadn't been kidding around, it smarted and a lot he could have sworn it felt like bones grinding together in his ribs. Then it stopped. He looked down, the bruises were all gone, he tentatively rolled his ankle around and stretched his torso, finding no pain. "What is your quirk?" he asked his mind reeling, Aydin stepped away, but Shoto held her wrist to his chest his eyes searching hers. She was becoming more and more of a mystery.

"Good try." She smirked at him pulling her hand away. Turning and starting down the hall, she stopped before heading up the stairs "Oh Shoto?" he looked over at her. "Good luck,"

"Aydin." He called back. She turned back to him "Next time I want a real fight."

She chuckled, "No, you really don't." And she was gone.

….End Flashback….

He'd never told her but she'd saved him more that day than anyone else had ever before. That was the day, he found his rock, and he leaned on her when he needed to and she always welcomed him and supported him and eventually he learned that he was her rock in return.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Just a heads up there is a sex scene in this chapter and mentions of abuse, this chapter is why the rating jumped to mature. Both are marked the abuse with a flash back, the sex scene with a line break. Hopefully you are all enjoying the story though! I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback!

* * *

Chapter 4

Shoto slumped down onto the couch his emotions a whirlwind. It had been years since he'd felt this useless. He'd run into Fais again, and he'd been out matched in every way, he buried his head in his hands, how had he let himself mess up this much. He'd been blinded by his own intents to see what was going on around him.

_He chased Fais into the alley, deserted buildings lined the alley, and yet again Fais had taken cover in the debris, trash, dumpsters, wood pallets, even a rusted out van with its windows busted out. No movements that he could see. If he couldn't see Fais, then he couldn't see him, "Let's level the playing field." he whispered his breath coming out in a cloud as the temperature around him dropped. A thick sheet of ice wrapped around the street, up the walls, and through the deserted buildings. _

He knew better, he should have known better than to use his quirk in a place civilians could have been. Where they had been, he just hadn't seen them.

_Fais moved into view from behind a dumpster. A young girl with him feet bare, teeth chattering, Fais was floating above the ice. Air. His estimate had been correct Fais had an elemental quirk like his. The child floated backwards away from Shoto and Fais down the alley behind Fais til she landed where the ice stopped allowing the child to run away. "That was reckless, especially for you." Fais had hissed, his voice being thrown by a modulator. Had Fais brought in a hostage? No, he wouldn't have let him go so easily if that were the case. He'd just miscalculated. He was suddenly grateful for Fais' humanity, at least he also cared for civilian lives, he wasn't going to allow for others to get hurt in their conflict. _

He should have known then to be cautious of more civilians lurking in the alley and the surroundings. He was shaking, he'd almost hurt them, he had hurt them, he let out a choked sob. He was no better than his father. His legs curled up to his chest.

_He let the heat surround them melting the ice, steam forming around them a concussive blast rattling the entire alley way the tires on the van popping with the force of the rapid expanding air. The steam cleared, Fais still floating in the exact same place, the stream swirling around him into water, that wrapped around his arm into a mass of water. Elements. Fais could manipulate more than one. Shoto let both sides ignite, icicles flying towards Fais propelled by fire. Before he realized it a mass of earth had shot up from the ground, blocking the attack. Fais soared into the air, compressed air firing back hitting him in the chest three times. It felt like he'd been shot multiple times at close range by a pellet gun, he could feel the massive welts forming as the force knocked the wind out of him and backwards. He chased Fais into the air with an ice slide, rocketing after him colliding in a mid air fight of explosions, ice blasts, fire blasts, air whips, water whips, mini thermal shocks and more compressed air bullets. Fais suddenly stopped looking to the east past Shoto, then back toward the street before dropping out of the sky. Shoto followed suit skidding down his tall spiraling ice sculpture he'd used to chase Fais into the air._

How could he call himself a hero. He hadn't realized- he hadn't accounted for other factors.

_He hit the ground, Fais wasn't even looking at him. He was working quickly to remove civilians from his ice. He'd frozen civilians in place in the building of his current ice slide. Fais was phasing the civilians through his ice and instructing them to run pointing down the street to the East. But in their panic they weren't listening, scattering throughout the street. Fais lifting the last civilian out. He grabbed Fais' shoulder ready to incapacitate him. He heard something much scarier. A crack, loud and clean, the wind whipped through the alley way. The wind had cracked his ice from high above. Before he could blink Fais had swung around him, a knee landing on his right shoulder, the other clenched around his back ribs under his left arm his smaller body now stacked on top of him "Use your fire Shoto." The voice had a different sound to it and without him realizing it, he had ignited his fire, wind swirling with his; a massive fire cyclone extending up into the air catching the cracking and splintering ice that was starting to fall. Almost the entire structure was caught, evaporating. Fais slid off his shoulder, racing down the street to where a woman was lying on the ground a shard of ice in her side. Shoto saw it clear as day the blood running down her side as the ice melted in the wound. He stumbled, his vision going white, he hit his knees, he watched as media rolled in, Fais behind them disappearing down the lane. "No comment" he said his voice soft, his head still reeling. 'Shoto fights with Fais' 'Shoto left unscathed, a feat even Deku couldn't manage', he even saved Civilians from the damage Fais created in the fight' he heard bits and pieces of the reporters stories as he waved them off. _

_He felt sick. He walked briskly back to his agency, as soon as he got in he called it a day. He changed, throwing a hood up over his head to not draw attention and left through his back door, taking a maze through the streets to where his car was parked. He slid in calling the hospital nearest the fight site. It rang 3 times before picking up. "Hello St. Pius Hospital, what can I help you with?" the voice of a woman asked over the phone her tone steady, he could tell she was used to dealing with trauma and those who were hysterical, it was the same voice he'd used to calm those around him in times of emergency. _

"_I'm inquiring about the status of a woman, I believe she was brought in about thirty minutes ago with a puncture wound to her abdomen on the right side." The image of her auburn hair and pain filled eyes burned in his mind. "She had," he paused stuttering, he took a breath, "she had long auburn hair," he breathed out. Auburn hair the same color as his wife; too close, all of the things in this situation hit too close to everything he was terrified of. "I know you can't give me details, but I just want to know if she is going to be alright."_

"_One moment." the receptionist said, he heard her typing, on the other side of the phone. "She is going to be fine." the voice told him, he let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Thank goodness. "Is that all?" She asked._

"_Yes it is." He said hanging up the phone, starting up his car and starting to drive back home._

Fine or not he had still caused that woman to be injured. He had hurt a civilian. He couldn't stop seeing it, the auburn hair as she lay on the ground, he knew it wasn't Aydin, but it still made his heart twist in his chest. He felt himself losing grip on reality, 'No; Not now,' he thought as his eyes glazed over his heart rate raising. It had been two years since he'd had a flashback the last one was triggered six months before Takea was born, when he'd been hospitalized from a fight with an electric quirk villain.

* * *

*Flashback*

"BOY! GET DOWN HERE!" Endeavor shouted; Shoto started in his bed, ignoring the piercing pain shooting through his entire body, his muscles were sore from over work. He wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for a few more hours and then draw himself a long hot bath. Instead he dressed quickly into a shirt and shorts he could train in and ran down into the kitchen where his probably now furious Father was seated at the kitchen table. Endeavor's face where his fiery beard was normally in fair control had turned into a light blue flame raging on his face, the vein in his forehead was throbbing dangerously.

Shoto swallowed hard bowing his head, afraid of what was coming "I'm sorry I took so long." A hand cracked over Shoto's face, his head snapping to the side with the blow as he stumbled.

"You know you have a training schedule to uphold, over sleeping is not going to get you to where you need to be." Endeavor hissed. Shoto knew the schedule well, it was hung on both sides of his door for both him and the rest of the household to see even though at this point none of them needed it. "Now here is your list of exercises and the weights for each that you should be using at this point. We will finish today with sparing just before lunch then you are to do your homework and chores." Shoto nodded taking the piece of paper from Endeavors hands.

Endeavor gestured for him to get even closer; nervously Shoto took another step -he knew what was coming, and on cue, a sharp blow hit him hard across the face. Shoto grabbed his cheek instinctually, it stung and turned even darker red even though he'd been ready it still knocked him to the side a few steps. "Listen carefully, boy," Endeavor growled. "Stick to this list. If I find you slacking off you'll have hell to pay. Is that clear?" Shoto nodded and gripped the note, glancing down at it before gasping. "Is there a problem?" Endeavor asked, an eyebrow raising as if daring his youngest to say anything.

The exercises would take him at least 2 and a half hours and that was with no rest in between; there was no way he could finish them all in 3 hours. "No" Shoto whispered.

"What was that?" Endeavor asked bearing down on the boy.

"No Sir, nothing is wrong." Shoto knew better than to raise an issue about it, left the room to begin with the list-he needed all the time he could get if he was going to even get halfway, especially with how sore he already was.

Shoto stood in the squat rack an hour later, the guard rails carefully set up to catch the weight should he collapse. His legs were already shaking from the other exercises, and his next 3 sets were supposed to be at 80 percent of his maximum and with a 5 second rep. He took a shaky breath, his stomach flipping in unease. Shoto swallowed hard, throwing up on an empty stomach was always worse. He stepped under the bar heaving it off the holds slowly shuffling into the middle of the rack. He took a deep breath leveling his eyes at the top of the mirror in front of him. He lowered slowly until the bar almost touched the guard he held it for a second at the bottom before pressing back up quicker. He got in his first rep, but we weak and shaking hard on the fifth one. His aching and battered body revolting against him, he knew he was close to his limit, he was barely a third of the way in, he'd pushed his body as hard as it would go. On his second set he got through 3 repetitions before his legs slackened on the way back up and he fell down the weight clanging loudly onto the guard. He froze, he knew Endeavor had heard it, his heart rate increased adrenaline rushing into his veins. He pushed hard into the weight he needed to get it up. He shoved hard breathing out with force to help with the strain. He got it up 4 inches, 5 inches, 6, 7, at a foot off the guard the door slammed open. Shoto felt the blood in his veins turn to ice water, his legs gave out again, spending both him and weight crashing down he hit the floor under the bar. He grabbed the sides of the rack using them to help pull himself up, his legs shaking dangerously under him.

"STAND UP STRAIGHT YOU LAZY CHILD!" Endeavor roared striding across the room quickly. His fist grabbing the front of Shoto's shirt, hauling him away from the rack forcing him to stand without assistance. "You were born to be a hero Shoto, but if you can't even do your training properly how do you ever expect to reach the top," He hauled him across the room by his collar. "Square up." Endeavor hissed throwing Shoto forward into the sparing circle.

Shoto stumbled forward, somehow catching himself before he hit the floor, he stood up squaring to his father, swaying on his feet. He pulled his hands up hands open and wide to catch as much of the attack that he knew was bound to be coming. He blocked the first attack, catching and deflecting the punch aimed at his ribs. He attempted to jump and avoid the leg sweeping under him as the secondary, he was weak though and he didn't clear Endeavor's strike. His legs getting knocked from under him. "Weak, Shoto. How can you expect to help any one when you are so weak." He leveled a kick into Shoto's back on the last word, sending him flying across the room. Shoto hit the wall falling down to the floor with a loud thump. "GET UP!" Shoto slowly got to his feet; he didn't want to make his father any angrier. "How far did you get on your list?" Endeavor asked, Shoto saw the danger in the words, he knew the schedule, he knew Shoto was no more than a third of the way in.

"A third of the way in," Shoto said bowing his head "I'm sorry sir,I tried. I really did," Shoto said, he opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted as a fiery punch landed squarely into his shoulder, searing the flesh of his right side, the words left his mouth as a gasp instead.

"TRIED! YOU PROBABLY JUST SAT AROUND LIKE THE LAZY RECKLESS PILE OF BONES RUNT YOU ARE!" Endeavor grabbed the boy by the collar and slammed him against the wall, pinning the smaller boy. "I'll make you scream, Then maybe you'll understand why you need to try harder" he whispered dangerously. Shoto shuddered his eyes going wide with fear. He was pulled out of the training room and up the stairs, Endeavor and threw him onto the bathroom floor. Dots began to cloud Shoto's vision as he hit the hard tiles full force. He could hear water running and weakly lifted his head.

Hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him to his knees. It took Shoto a few seconds to register that he was kneeling in front of the bathtub. "It'll stop when you get yourself out." Before he could do anything, a firm hand gripped him by the hair and forced his head down into the cold water. Shoto didn't get the chance to take a breath before the water surrounded his head and he began to panic, what had his father just said. He struggled with all his might to break free as the air left him; the cold water stung in his open eyes. Desperately Shoto began to kick and squirm to get out of Endeavor's grip. His vision was cloudy and he tried to breathe, but only inhaled water. He couldn't see, he couldn't breathe; he got another mouthful of water and his struggle ceased. He became weaker as the light embraced him. He felt his quirk kick in as a self saving measure and massive rush of ice threw him back from the bathtub and breaking the grip Endeavor had on him. He crashed back onto the cold floor. Shoto's shirt was soaked through and transparent as he began to cough up water, and his breath came in small gasps. He was so weak he couldn't even move when his Endeavor came into his blurry view, "Reckless of you to only use your quirk at the last second, you need to plan better Shoto or else you'll only end up hurting people."

*End Flashback*

* * *

Shoto gasped his view clearing and suddenly refocusing on his own living room, he looked into hazel eyes, vaguely noting that a hand was resting on his waist, another on his shoulder. As soon as he focused on her she dove forward, wrapping him in her arms as she knocked him back. He welcomed the comforting weight of Aydin's body on his. Endeavor's words from that session had cut him deep, he still remembered them, they still affected him. Her head buried into his neck, it was like she knew he needed her. "Shoto?" Her voice was quiet in his ear. "I've never seen you so detached after a fight, are you ok?" Her eyes searching his, her arms still around his back she rubbed his back soothingly calming his fried nerves. He shook his head, he knew he could be honest with her, she never passed judgment on him, she'd proven herself to be a safe place for him back in high school, many times when he needed her the most.

"No" he whispered squeezing her closer. She nodded, not needing anymore explanation as she curled against him. She knew he'd talk when he was ready, he always did. He laid there on the couch with her, her head on his shoulder the constant reminder that he wasn't alone, he wasn't a total failure, and even though he'd messed up, he was still loved. It was something she'd always done for him, she always reminded him that he was not the screw up he thought he was and even when he made a mistake, he was human and it never changed that she was there for him. It was silent between them for a while before he finally spoke. "Aydin?" she looked up at him "Where is Takea?"

"At my parents house, they said they'd take her for the night," She smiled at him, a hand trailing down from his collarbone to the hem of his sweatshirt.

He chuckled, bending his head to catch her lips with his "Probably a good idea." she nodded kissing him again, he held her close to him, "I definitely don't understand how you always know exactly what I need."

"You forget I know you better than anyone else too. You looked like you were going to need some kid free time." Aydin whispered her finger tips teasing his hips skirting across his abs.

He smiled turning to pin her between his body and the back of the couch. "I screwed up today." he admitted, waiting for her to pull her hand away, it was still a gut reaction that he thought she'd recoil if he wasn't perfect. But she didn't instead she pulled him closer and more over the top of her body understanding his need to feel a little more in control and dominant at the moment, and in the change of positions with him now almost completely above her that need was sated.

"How so love?" she asked nuzzling against his jaw.

"I miscalculated, miscalculated a lot of things, I could've hurt a lot of people, I was so focused on getting to Fais I didn't even gauge what was possible from my surroundings." His head dropped to hers. "Someone got hurt because of it." He sighed his shoulders and head falling from the weight of his words.

"Oh Sho." Aydin sighed her hands moving to cup his cheek, "It is ok to make a mistake,"

"It was reckless."

"Love, you are almost never reckless, you are allowed to have your emotions get the better of you every once in awhile, you're only human, as much as your dad may have preferred a robot, he only managed to get one of those when it comes to your food preferences." Aydin stroked his side laying her head against his chest. "You will always be a hero to the nation and especially to me. Accidents happen, and from the sound of it, it could have been a lot worse than it was." Her voice was soft and gentle. Her words reminded him that she always had his back first, he'd learned that back in school when a group of students from America had done a month long exchange from there hero school to UA. It had been Aydin's old school in America that had come and even when she was reunited with her friends, he had still been her first priority on the friend list. He chuckled to himself remembering the times well. "What is it?"

"Just remembering that, you are my favorite person, and that you always have had me, even when I was too daft to realize it."

"Ahh, yea well the fact that you asked me out then didn't realize I'd said yes and proceeded to ask like a bi-polar golden retriever puppy for the next week wasn't exactly on me." She laughed poking him in the shoulder, knocking him onto his back on the couch. He welcomed the change of position reaching to grab the remote and his phone ordering them food as she flipped through their tv and movie subscription service till she found a good movie.

"How does soba sound?" Shoto asked, he had a chuckle on his lips as Aydin looked up her face pulled into an expression that clearly was asking if he was serious. "They have other things too if you don't want soba, but that is clearly the best food choice of all time." He stated barely keeping his voice level as a grin split across his face.

"You are unbelievable sometimes." Aydin laughed, reaching for his phone. "Give me that, you can have your soba and I'll have something else," She rolled her eyes snatching his phone out of his hand seeing the four different kinds of soba noodles in the cart, she chuckled shoving against his chest gently "Fricking soba motivated robot." He laughed his arms wrapping around her body.

"You know you like soba too." He laughed poking her sides causing her to squirm.

"Yea I like it, I don't live off it." She teased poking him back. "I think half the reason you went pro sometimes is to keep up with your soba addiction."

"Yea, how else would I get it as often as I want you only make it once a week."

"In a huge quantity! And you still run out of it in two days!"

"So it's obviously not enough then."

"It's plenty! It's enough for lunch for you all week."

"No it's not."

"Only cause you eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner those next two days."

"So"

"If you only had it for lunch it would last all week."

"Or I eat it in two days then buy soba for lunch the rest of the week."

"And we are back to your hero salary going towards soba."

"I never said it didn't go towards soba. But that's definitely not the only thing."

"No it isn't, I definitely use it too." she hit send on the food order tossing his phone onto the coffee table. "Forty minutes til the food arrives."

"See, you spend it on coffee. Even though we have a coffee machine."

"You know I can't work that thing," Aydin whined.

"My wife; she can take out any hero in the world, but is bested by a coffee maker."

"It's faulty!"

"It's never blown up, hissed, or angrily beeped at me."

"Well aren't you something special."

"You seem to think so."

"Ugh, remind me again why I started dating you."

"I think you said something along the lines of I was amazing, handsome, intelligent and you loved not having to settle for anything less than exactly what you wanted." he laughed as she nodded squirming closer to his side.

"Hmm, is that what I said? I can't remember. You sure I didn't say anything about you being a robotic, crazy person, who can work a demon coffee machine?" she teased.

"Maybe the robotic part was in there, but we all know you're the crazy one out of the two of us."

"Yea, that sure sounds like my side of the family. I'm not as bad as my cousin though."

"That's hard competition. Matt is in his own league in that category, how Aimee deals with him I'll never understand."

"Good point. Aimee deserves a medal for that quite honestly."

"I wholeheartedly agree, for someone who has such a similar quirk you two definitely have chosen different lives with it."

"He was always the showboat in the family, it really didn't surprise any of us when he went into the professional dance scene, especially with a touch activated body manipulation quirk."

Shoto nodded "I still remember when he was looking at the pro hero world though."

"Yea it was a thing my mom's side of the family pushed, our grandpa was a hero in America, And so was Matt's mom, his dad too, and our aunt Cecilly. My mom would have been too, but she ended up teaching instead, her quirk didn't exhibit the same power as the others did." Aydin shrugged, her upbringing in hero society in America had been something that her and Shoto had bonded over from one of the first times they had met, his father being the number two hero in Japan and her family being a well known hero family in America, even All-Might had known exactly who she was, it quickly being known that she was his God-Daughter and her Father and him were close friends. "But if he'd never tried he probably wouldn't have met Aimee and you may have never truly realized how nuts my family is." She laughed remembering when Matt and the others had come to visit U.A. as part of the month long exchange from her old and his current hero school in the States. It had been a year and a half since she had seen any of them and the reunion had been a site to see, even though it had confused the hell out of all her then current classmates at U.A.

"Yea the fact that, you greet one another by diving headlong into a fight no matter where you are was certainly eye opening. You two dove at each other in the middle of an airport, while the kids in the visiting class just had to try and convince airport security it was perfectly normal and a family thing." Shoto shook his head, remembering as she had abruptly tossed him her car keys in the middle of the baggage pick up area. The next thing he knew a taller blond haired boy had tackled her, at first he'd thought he was just excited to see her, he quickly forgot that idea when he saw her twist in mid air kneeing the boy hard in the side throwing him from her as she landed on her feet into a fighting stance he'd seen used on him more than once. Officials had run to try and break it up when a small girl stopped them her arms extending telling them not to interfere and that it was a family tradition that when family members hadn't seen each other in more than a few days they were to greet one another with an impromptu sparring match as designated by the head of their house, their grandfather.

"You guys got used to it too." Aydin shrugged "It made family reunions into more of a surprise attack tournament for the first two or so hours though."

"I can only imagine, are you guys allowed to use you quirk?"

"No, it has always been a pure strategy and strength competition." She said smiling, "Except those of us between the ages of 5 and 10. If you were 10 you could use your quirk but as soon as you turned 11 you were only allowed to engage with your own strength and cunning."

"So, love have you ever won the Henkan Battle royal?" Shoto asked knowing their was a solid chance she could win it.

"When I was 10 I did." she laughed. He chuckled as well, imagining a crazed little red-head running around a vacation house and yard touching everyone she could and knocking them out. "But since then no, I've gotten to the final round the last few years but my Aunt Cecilly is tough competition." She admitted, "She's America's top hero, and without quirks, she has years of experience on me in combat and taught me most of my take down moves so she knows what to look for and exactly how to counter each one." Aydin shrugged, "but considering I'm not ranked and I take down almost all of the families ranked heroes, I consider that a win in of itself. Also just so you know, in 6 months we've been married 3 years, most of my family will consider you fair game too if you ever can make it, especially since you are a ranked hero." she warned him tapping his chest next to where her head was resting.

"Thanks for the heads up, that I have to get involved in your families insane tradition before hand."

"Better than going in blind like Matt did to Aimee last year." they were quiet basking in one another's company, without a tiny child running around and just the noise of a hospital sitcom running in the background Aydin running a hand seemingly mindlessly over Shoto's chest drawing circles, her hand slowly dropping lower and lower until it reached the gap of skin between his sweatshirt and his pants.

"Care to tell me what you're playing at love?" Shoto asked his voice strained. She opened her mouth a smirk on her lips. He turned quickly pinning her to the couch below him his hand moved up to catch her jaw "Don't even try to play dumb."

She pulled her head out of his grasp a wicked grin splitting the smirk "Says the man who very well knows exactly what I'm doing, I won't play dumb as long as you don't either, Sho." Her hands sliding under his sweatshirt pushing it up on his torso. He growled above her sitting up briefly to yank the hoodie and undershirt off with one hand, before dropping to latch his lips onto the soft skin between her neck and collarbone, humming, contentedly when she pressed up against him turning her head to give him more access. His hands dropped pulling the hem of her shirt up and off joining his on the floor. One hand traced the deep bruises on his chest, healing them, lightly tugging on his hair, as his mouth came back to attack her newly exposed collarbone causing a gasp of pleasure to leave her mouth. Her hands lowering to his belt making quick work of it yanking it sideways until it hit the floor as well.

_Mature Scene, Don't read if you don't like it_

* * *

He pressed into the couch below lifting himself off just enough for both of them to work at the buttons and zippers holding their pants in place. As soon as both were undone hands pushed on the clothes moving the unwanted fabric away from what was about to connect them. He shimmied out of his jeans, hooking fingers around the waistband of hers pulling them down as they both kicked the offending fabric away. A hand moved cupping her warm sex; he got a hum in respond as her hips pressed into his hand. Her hands kneading the sides of his hips urging him on, her hand slipping into the waistband of his boxers exploring, and fondling him gently causing his head to fall, his lips open in a half moan half gasp. He was done with waiting, making quick work of Aydin's undergarments, his hand returned up fingers running through her folds dipping two fingers into her center. Causing a gasp as her hips bucked forward; he caught her bottom lip with his teeth. "Shhh, just lay back and let me make you cum for me." she nodded almost whimpering against his mouth and the movement of his hand. His thumb rubbing her clit as his fingers curled and pumped in and out. She moaned against his mouth he smirked removing his hand smirking down before lifting her up so she was seated up higher on the couch and he had room to move, her legs on either side of him.

Aydin sat up kissing him gently sucking on his bottom lip. He smiled at her before diving down towards her hips, he held her hips down with one hand the other still teasing her clit as his tongue drove in taking the place his fingers had held moments before. Aydin gasped falling back against the arm of the couch her upper body arched back as he sucked and nipped gently at her lower regions, lapping and teasing with his tongue and fingers. She felt the coil in her pelvis tightening and the wall start to build she was close to her first orgasm and they both knew it "Shoto," she gasped her voice breathless. "Oh my god, Shoto, keep going. Oh love yes," she heard her voice as if it were far off.

He picked up his pace as her hips began to shake, he hummed into her center as his tongue worked wonders on her clit as she climbed to a first orgasm. Before he pulled away, Aydin whined at the loss of his ministrations. He hooked his hands around her knees and yanked pulling her hips right up to his. "Ready Love?" he asked, discarding his boxer briefs, his erection slapping up against his stomach. He leaned over moving so the tip of his penis was teasing her entrance.

She nodded her voice catching in her throat as he thrust in, hard and fast. "Ah!" She yelped at the sudden full feeling as she was stretched around him, her nails dragging down his back. Her head falling back into the couch allowing him free access to her neck and chest, which he took full advantage of. "Faster." Aydin gasped out, as moving her legs from their place around his waist up to his shoulders. He hissed at the change in position speeding up. "Harder," she moaned.

Shoto obliged immediately slamming in harder and faster, "Fuck, Aydin." He called out as he brought her to the edge again, pinning her arms above her head allowing him to gain leverage he needed to make her crumble, her body shuddering underneath him. He lifted Aydin up sliding off the couch her legs falling to straddle his hips as she sat in his lap; she rolled her hips against his, riding him. She manipulated her position, leaning back against the coffee table and his slightly bent knees to hit her g-spot, pairing that with the circles his thumb was making on her clit she was sent over the edge again.

The circles her hips were making on his dick combined with her walls clamping down around him as she came caused his pace to quicken and get sloppy, her orgasm extending dragging him with her this time as she intentionally tightened around him over and over milking him in time to his strokes as building wall of her next orgasm tightened in her core again, she started to shake clamping down on him as he came as well groaning and shaking with the effort riding out the orgasm as long as they could. Aydin relaxed slowly catching her breath still straddling him, his now limp cock still in her as they both recovered. He pulled Aydin against him resting his chin on her head, their naked bodies flush against one another. She smiled turning and kissing his chest her arms wrapping around his neck.

* * *

_Ok you can read again_

They laid on the floor their breath in sync enjoying the relaxation and contentment that came after indulging in such activities. Their heads turned into one another, enjoying the closeness of the other, a person they never felt judged by or like they ever had to be more than who they were, someone who was their other half, in all senses of the word.

The doorbell rang Aydin groaned rolling off Shoto immediately missing the feeling as he tapped her side reluctantly indicating he'd go get it even though he really didn't want to move at the moment. He stood up wiping himself off and pulling on pants and tugging on his shirt as he walked to the door. Aydin rolled over grabbing Shoto's sweatshirt pulling it on over her bare body, flipping the show to something a little less background noise and a little more something they could curl up and enjoy together.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry about the wait on this one, I had a fair amount of writers block when I started this chapter... Obviously once I got going it went away cause this is the longest chapter yet. Any way I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 5

By the weekend Shoto had returned to a normal work state and was back to going on patrols, Izuku taking over the chase for Fais for a bit since Katsuki had said he had a few new ideas about the case. Shoto was more than happy to step back from it for a bit. Jovial whispers followed him as he walked the streets on the tail end of his patrol, he was used to it by now, he stood out quite a bit with his two toned hair and the tell tale scar over his left eye, it was just another thing he had needed to get used to when he entered the pro arena. Now it didn't bug him nearly as much as it used too, and in this area people were used to seeing him or one of his sidekicks from his agency, his sidekicks were each one block away, helping him patrol a wide radius, they were connected by GPS trackers and headset walkie talkie style gadgets. A small child in a commercially produced replica onesie of his uniform and hair ran up to him, his eyes wide. Shoto smiled crouching down to engage with the child, whose mother looked beyond embarrassed that her son had distracted Shoto from his job. Shoto waved her off, "It's fine, I wouldn't have a daughter of my own if I didn't like kids." She smiled delighted with the genuine response from such a notorious pro hero. The child continued to babble on about how he was going to be a hero someday and he wanted to be just like Shoto. The child couldn't have been more than four, he was getting close to the time when his quirk would show up.

"Hey Shoto?" The ear bud crackled as he heard one of his sidekicks chime in across the link.

"Yes,"

"Umm there seems to be a pretty big disturbance behind us."

Another voice cut through, "Yea I just had a civilian warn me about something happening a few blocks from the agency."

"I heard that too. It's coming from 14th and Fern. Based on GPS you're closest to it boss. Sounds like a group of run of the mill hoodlums are trying to corner some woman."

Shoto grimaced as all three of the sidekicks had heard about this and he hadn't even though he was the closest "I'll head that way." He responded, as he dropped down to a knee "I have to go, something requires my attention at the moment, but I can't wait to work with you in the future." He said ruffling the kids hair causing the little kid to beam up at him, before nodding his head giving Shoto an awkward salute. Shoto smiled at the small child and nodded to the mom before breaking into a jog running toward where his team said the disturbance was. There was a squeal of tires as a news van screeched to a halt 2 blocks ahead of him, he broke into a sprint, ice aiding his forward propulsion as he slid forward.

If a news van was there then something was happening and as far as he knew he was the closest to the scene, his agency was only a few blocks away. He slid in it coming to a halt at the mouth of the alleyway. He looked down the street a group of hooded and masked villains had a woman backed into a corner, he let out a breath he'd been holding, his mouth twisting up at the corner. "Shoto, you're the first on the scene, what's yo-"

He looked over into the camera that was now on him, his mouth and eyebrows raising and twisting in amusement, "No I'm not." He said motioning to the woman down the alley catching her eye as she smiled, Aydin. He shook his head as he smiled back "She can take care of this just fine."

The camera man stared at the number two hero in shock, as he slowly swiveled back to the woman who looked to be surrounded. He heard her start speaking "Hmm..Lets see there is," she bit her lip worriedly as she pointed around counting. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine...so there's ten of you and one of me. What's a poor girl to do?" She sighed, her eyes locking with her husband's who rolled his eyes at her. She dropped down into a ball covering her face with a fake sob.

A second camera popped up, focused on Shoto who was trying to not laugh, "Shoto, are you going to help her?"

Shoto looked over, "If she needs it I'll help," he replied, simply shrugging as he leaned back on the van, his hands resting on the side of the van behind him.

"She's completely outnumbered and she sounds like she needs-"

"I'm not arguing with you," Shoto cut the man off holding up a hand silencing him, when he got a nod from the reporter he turned to look back down the alleyway.

"We are on the scene of a villain attack, number two hero Shoto is with us, refusing to help-" The hooded figures closed in closer around her, her eyes flashed up meeting his, a smirk flirting across her lips.

"Don't put words in my mouth." He shot back, "And I'd focus on her, or you're going to miss it. Besides you're missing the point, my wife can handle this just fine on her own."

"Your wife?" The reporters stared at the duel quirk hero, their eyes widening as they realized what he'd said.

"That's what I said." He smiled. In a flash a leg swept around at the end of the alleyway upending the closest five people in masks, her hand trailing over their ankles as they fell, bare skin contact. She wasted no time in springing up above them using the wall behind her to leap over and clear their heads. A hand snatched her ankled holding it above her head as she landed awkwardly on one foot two others jumping forward to grab her arms.

"Still not going to help?" The camera man asked, still shocked at how calm the hero was, his wife was trapped from the look of it and he still hadn't moved a muscle to help.

"Why? They've lost." He stated simply one of his sidekicks running up to him.

"Hey boss, we have the perimeter set up a block away, police are three blocks away, what's going o-" Shoto cut him off, pointing down the alley "Oh, heh, that wasn't a smart target." His sidekick chuckled looking at Aydin.

"No it wasn't" Shoto agreed as the last two started towards her, their quirks activating one's hands turning into metal, the other's fingers lengthening.

"How many left?"

"Two." The grip on her ankle dropped and she swung her leg down forcefully flipping herself forward, taking the two holding her with her. The one with metal hands stepped forward taking a huge swing only to have his hand caught and deflected by hers. "One." Shoto smiled. The guys with the stretching quirk's finger wrapped around her neck. "Zero"

Suddenly all of them stopped sitting down in place where they were. Aydin dusted herself off walking to pick up her bag before walking back towards them "Seriously Sho, couldn't save me the headache?" He chuckled "Did you at least call the police?" She smacked his chest with the back of her hand as she stopped in front of him.

"Of course I did" he laughed. "I just always have enjoyed watching you work."

"And the camera crew?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Got nothing." His sidekick said simply. "I checked, Shoto disabled the camera connections"

"What are you talking about?" The new caster's eyes widened, diving into the van finding the cameras had all been disconnected from the control panels. "WHAT!" They screamed. Their head popping back out the side "We got none of that!"

"Nope" Aydin said, smiling "Thanks Lodestone." The sidekick smiled.

"Not a problem!" The man was happy to accept the praise of his boss' wife.

"How. Why? You can't do that!" The reporter yelled.

"Actually I can." Her voice was hard as she looked right at the reporter, "Hi, I'm Aydin, as a pro I go by Corpus Iuris, but outside the world of Pro hero's and you may know my family, I'm Patrick Murphy's grand daughter, and Cecilly Murphy is my aunt."

The reporter froze. "Wait Murphy as in the Murphys?" She nodded. "I am so sorry, of course, I'm so sorry, Kiyoshi put that camera away!" The reporter was suddenly frantically apologizing bowing as he realized he was standing in front of someone many would consider to be royalty in their hero society.

"Well you didn't get anything, so no harm no foul." Aydin waved off the apologies. As the police pulled up behind the new van Shoto waved his hand icing over the hands of the masked villains, as the police ran in Shoto and Aydin stepped into the alley directing them in the apprehension of all nine.

As the news vans and police pulled away, they watched them go before deciding to go back to Shoto's agency. "Hey Aydin?"

Her head turned to him as they walked a few paces, "Yea Sho-chan?"

"You watch far too many Disney movies on your days off." Shoto remarked smirking back at her.

Aydin burst out laughing "Oh you caught that?" Her smile widening at being called out.

"Of course I did, you watched that movie last night with our daughter." He rolled his eyes pulling her against him, kissing her forehead briefly before stepping back as they got to the alleyway entrance.

"It was too good to not pass up." She smiled, squeezing his hand briefly as they disconnected. He was not a fan of public displays of affection, especially when he was in his full uniform, something they both could agree on since it just put a bigger target on their family. He stayed close to her though as they walked the rest of the way to the agency, while he knew she could hold her own it had never stopped him from being protective of her. As soon as they were behind the closed doors of the elevator she was yanked into his arms. She didn't fight him at all snuggling closer to his side, her arms stroking his side as his head dropped onto hers.

"I'm going to start paperwork." Lodestone mumbled stepping out of the elevator wanting to put some space between himself and the two strongest heroes he'd been lucky enough to meet."

"We'll be in Shoto's office doing the same if you need anything," Aydin answered for them as Shoto pulled her closer. The elevator doors closed, "Ok Shoto, what's going on, you're never this much of a snuggler at work, I'm not complaining, but I think you scared the poor kid."

"I just forgot how sexy you are when you take charge. It reminded me of the time you literally pitted my father against us to only yank the proverbial rug from underneath them." He nuzzled into her neck. "You really are a tactical genius." She leaned her head over more giving him better access to her, he kissed her neck, nipping at the smooth skin as it stretched out in front of him.

"Oh did it? If I remember correctly you weren't too thrilled when I did that." She whispered her hand tugging at his hair, encouraging him to continue.

He laughed his voice low. "No I wasn't. I'd never seen someone challenge my father like that, it was unheard of for me at that time."

She pulled back, pressing her lips to his, stroking his cheek "Well not all of us were trained to roll over when told." He sighed letting his head drop onto hers, his eyes closing his face pulling into a shallow grimace as she dragged up feelings that now felt a lifetime ago, even though they still stung sometimes, like now, it wasn't even close to how they used to feel. He knew she hadn't meant to but he was also weirdly happy at how much less it affected him now. "Hey," She whispered, cupping his cheek, he locked eyes with her "I love you, and that journey made you the man you are, and the man I fell in love with. And I dare anyone to try that with you now, my incredible, brilliant, strong man. You aren't that boy anymore." She pulled his mouth back to hers brushing her lips against his.

He grabbed her, picking her up as the elevator doors opened to the top floor which contained his office. Her legs wrapped around his waist as he carried her into his office, sinking onto the couch next to the floor to ceiling windows. "I wouldn't be any of those things without you Aydin." He said relaxing against the cushions her body wrapped around his as they cuddled in the warm sunlight. She rolled her eyes shaking her head but other than that she didn't verbally contradict him, she just nuzzled closer to him, her arms around his waist as her head buried deeper into his neck, her lips ghosting over his collarbone. He had changed, not 5 years ago he had been a completely different person. They'd both changed, her leap before looking tendency had calmed down, and he'd become much more comfortable with his emotions and who he was, they'd changed each other.

* * *

**Flashback**

* * *

Shoto stood in the entryway of his house, his hand clasped tightly around Aydin's, his 16 year old self was terrified of what he was doing. His face remained blank though only his eyes shifted nervously around, looking for the looming figure of his father- "Hey Shoto-kun." Her voice was distant, he suddenly had to remind himself that Aydin was here too, he followed it back suddenly arriving back in the present. "I'm not going anywhere." She said once his eyes had refocused on her.

She knew he reminded himself, his girlfriend, he had liked her for almost two years but he hadn't gotten the courage to ask her out until four months ago, halfway through their 2nd year at UA, she'd always been there for him in those two years though, and they had shared many a tough secret with each other by this point. She'd known for over a year now, since she'd fixed him up after their match at the Sports festival their first year. She knew about Endeavor's aggressive training methods, that's what she called it for his sake around others but they both knew it was abuse. He knew she knew what it was like to have expectations put on her by her family, she'd mentioned her family was incredibly strict with who she engaged with, what she did and that they weren't thrilled about her having a boyfriend they hadn't pre-approved. He'd learned over the years that she and all her cousins had been expected to be able to conform to the highest of society, learning at least the basics of multiple languages, music, ballroom dance, they were all well versed in martial arts of multiple styles. She'd never divulged how intensive and comprehensive those lessons had been until he'd been paired with her during a drivers training course they'd done at U.A. One of All Might's ideas after watching an old school movie about a bat hero. She'd lapped every single one of them, had hit the gas before the teacher had even begun to speak, and had even pulled out tricks the teacher hadn't even been able to perform. When asked about it, she had just shrugged saying it was one of the skills her grandfather had prioritized for her and her cousin's, her common response for most things. He'd had to drag the rest out of her, connecting to her since many of those things rang true for him too, his father forcing him to be a master of many trades. Their families both held onto some old and dated ideas of people needing to be accomplished to be able to fit into any situation that the Pro world would force on them, she still couldn't find what use being able to knit would ever do for her in the hero world.

She reached out interlocking their fingers, he smiled at the security of it knowing that she was in this with him. Smiling was something new to him, he'd only recently felt comfortable doing it around people other than her, he couldn't help but enjoy the light feeling in his chest as he realized the difference. He walked forward leading her into the house. They sat in the living room working on school work and chatting about the tournament against the exchange students that was coming up in the next week, until his older sister had called them for dinner. They sat quietly at the table, she was next to him, her hand resting on his knee, when Endeavor entered his broad form immediately intimidating Shoto as he stiffened instinctively. They ate in silence for about 5 minutes, Endeavor's glaring eyes not once leaving Shoto. Shoto was trembling next to her under his father's harsh gaze, or he would have been if she hadn't been physically steadying him, keeping his heartbeat calm and his muscles relaxed, he squeezed her hand appreciating her support. Endeavor slammed, his silverware down, Shoto looked up, stormy grey and turquoise met a piercing turquoise pair, pinning Shoto to his spot. "Shoto, where are your manners." His voice was firm and calm and if you hadn't seen his eyes you'd think Shoto wasn't in trouble at all, sadly that wasn't the case at all. "Aren't you going to introduce your guest."

Shoto lost his breath as those eyes stifled him, panic rising. A gentle squeeze on his leg brought him back. "O-of c-co-course." Shoto stumbled over his words. "Father, this is Henkan Aydin, she is in my class at U.A."

"Stop lying Shoto. That is your girlfriend. At least be strong enough to admit it." Endeavor sneered, his face twisting in disdain. "You act as if I don't know what's going on at that school." He paid no mind to Aydin as he interrupted his son. "How dare you!" He seethed slamming his hands into the table, his fire quirk radiating heat. Shoto's head dropped under the stare as he felt his face burn with embarrassment. Not now, not like this, he didn't want Aydin to see this. Her thumb rubbed calming circles on his thigh as if this was nothing new to her. "You know your duty to this family! You are to marry a woman who has the ability to match you and support you! Not some girl with a father who is barely in the top 30 of our hero society! This is unacceptable! I've worked too hard on your future for you to ruin it." Endeavor thundered. Shoto dropped his head even more curling in on himself, feeling like he'd just been stripped naked, sitting there more vulnerable than he'd ever been, he could barely feel the hand she still had on his leg anymore. The gaping hole and naked feeling his father had just dealt him overwhelming his senses. Endeavor hadn't even given mind to the fact that Aydin was still in the room which tore at him even more. He'd finally found someone who he wanted to bring home, who he had let in and his father couldn't even wait til she was gone to humiliate him. "Stand up!" Shoto obeyed, hoping if he was fast about it he's father would be brief, his legs threatening to give way "Get over here." He numbly walked forward. 'Not now' his thoughts pleaded 'not in front of her, not here'. This couldn't be what was about to happen, Natsuo and Fuyumi were dead silent as they watched in silent horror, they knew their father was cruel but this was in front of a guest, he'd never stooped to this low. Shoto slowly moved to stand in front of his father, his siblings eyes were sad as they watched their little brother knowing that there truly was nothing that they could do against him, especially when Endeavor was in this state. He drew his hand back letting it fly, Shoto stood his eyes closed waiting for the blow but it never came. He opened his eyes. Aydin was next to him, one hand on his back the other had his father's wrist in a tight grip.

"I wouldn't touch him in front of me if I was you." Her voice was deathly low, as she stepped up next to him, the hand on his back providing a comforting hold just below his shoulder blade.

"Are you threatening me?" He seethed, trying to activate his quirk. His eyes narrowed as he realized he couldn't, he watched her carefully, a quirk that could erase, nothing more than common place than Aizawa he decided, brushing off the girl as just tough words and a naive amount of courage and false strength in her words.

She smiled, still perfectly polite, as if she didn't have his wrist in a death grip "No. I'm telling you. There is a difference." She answered nonchalantly as if she was commenting on the weather. "Now let's finish dinner before you get hurt." She threw his arm away from Shoto forcibly before pulling Shoto back to his chair. Dinner was silent for the rest of the meal, Endeavor finishing quickly still glaring at the girl next to his son, his anger storming to even greater heights just below the surface, as she let go his flames came back to him the heat from his beard alone was withering in the room. Shoto was glad Aydin was on his right, his ice tempering the heat around her a bit. But even with his offset the whole table except Shoto still had sweat rolling down the back of their necks in minutes from the fiery rage boiling at the head of the table.

He shoved back from the table tossing his napkin onto the dinner "Shoto, you are to tell me before Henkan leaves so I can wish our guest goodnight." He growled his voice cold before he turned on his heel and stormed out. The entire table was quiet til they couldn't hear his footsteps any more. Shoto cooled the room quickly on instinct making the room a comfortable place, instead of the sauna it had been just minutes before.

"You know you just made it worse right?" Natsuo said, glaring across the table. "You aren't going to be here tonight to pick him up after Endeavor finishes with him."

Shoto was still quiet, his eyes staring off into space, glassy and unfocused, like he was a million miles away. "He won't touch him more than once tonight." Aydin said softly, her hand rubbing Shoto's back, her touch calming him considerably, he blinked his eyes starting to refocus. "Hey, Shoto. Shoto, he's gone." Shoto looked at her, his eyes wide and questioning, why was she still here, after what she'd just seen, how had she not run for the hills? Instead she looked at him, rubbed his back, smiled and kissed his cheek. "I told you Sho, I'm not going anywhere."

Her words broke a smile across his face. Much to the shock of his siblings they had so rarely seen him smile. "I still have some homework I need to get done, Thank you for dinner Fuyumi." he acknowledged his sister, briefly collecting plates from the table and putting them in the kitchen.

"Thank you for dinner," Aydin said, "I promise I didn't mean to start anything, but I wasn't just going to sit there either, not when I can do something." she was unapologetic which caused Natsuo's face to twist.

"Just try to be careful," He finally sighed, "He has to deal with a lot from our Father, he's his masterpiece, whatever that is supposed to mean so he takes the brunt of his temper."

Aydin nodded "I'm aware" was her only comment, before she disappeared after Shoto.

The other siblings finished their dinner and cleaned up before poking their heads into the living room, finding Aydin curled up next to their brother, her arms around him, her head resting on his chest as she studied, giving him the position above and around her. Fuyumi knew it was a subtle thing, but for a strong person like Aydin had shown herself to be, giving Shoto the quiet support he needed while letting him know that she wasn't leaving his side, warmed her heart toward the girl. She couldn't help smiling at the scene, her hand rested on Natsuo "She cares about him a lot." She whispered to him as they left the room. He nodded agreeing with her, he still didn't like that she'd poked the proverbial bear but he could tell she really didn't mean to hurt Shoto.

Aydin continued to read until she heard him sigh, the book he was reading dropping to the cushion. She closed her book, setting it down, wrapping her arm around him, "What is it?"

He let his head rest on the top of hers, "He won't let me go Aydin." He lifted his legs onto the couch effectively wrapping his body around her smaller one.

She breathed for a moment letting his words sink in "No, he probably won't, not without a fight at least." She looked up at him, her warm hazel green eyes meeting his. "But the more you know about what you want and who you want to be, the more you'll be able to differentiate that from what he wants, and fight for it, then he won't be able to hold on to you anymore. You already aren't here unless it's a holiday, or on the rare long weekend like this, so he doesn't have nearly the control you think he does." She spoke so matter of factly he couldn't help but start to believe what she was saying. "Shoto, you need to be your own motivation. Do you want to be a Pro or is that just a dream your father forced on you?"

Shoto paused that was it, the question that had been haunting him all year. "Most of the time yes. I do, I want to be a hero for all those who need me and are like me. But after nights like tonight I don't know. If that's what the current number one hero acts like then what if thats all I'm destined to be?" He finally answered.

Aydin nodded "Well you know what," he looked down at the girl, "All of those feelings are perfectly valid, and it's ok to have those feelings," She smiled. "I don't know the answer to that one myself actually. I don't want to be a hero in a world of people without good intentions, they may be doing good things but when it comes down to their reputation or the life of another, I don't trust them. I wish our council would have taken a better look at some of Stain's ideologies. Those things he was fighting against, that is what is going to be the undoing of our hero worshiping society." In that one confession she had taken all the stress off him as he realized what he was feeling was normal, and he wasn't alone in his struggles against what it meant to be a hero for themselves. He relaxed smiling at her, brushing his lips against hers briefly, tabling the current discussion for the time being. He was going to enjoy one of the few bits of time that they were able to spend together outside of school and over the long weekend.

"Aydin?" He took a deep breath a few minutes later, breaking away, convincing himself that he could ask what he needed to right then, he needed to quell that awful gnawing feeling he had in his chest, she looked up at him as she waited for him to continue. "Did," He took a breath "did tonight change how you think of me?"

She ran a hand through his hair messing it up. "Of course it did." he felt like he'd been stabbed, but she just smiled at him, pushing him down onto the couch and rolling, pulling him on top of her, a hand latching around the back of his neck holding him in place. "It showed me that my incredible, kind, intelligent, handsome boyfriend is stronger than I ever realized." She buried her nose in his neck as his arms looped around her, holding her against him, enjoying the feeling of her beneath him and her breath on his neck.

"I wouldn't quite frame it like that." he whispered, his forehead dropping onto hers. "You just saw one of my worst nightmares,"

"And you survived it,"

"No. I just stood there. You had to jump in."

"You can't blame yourself for your reaction Sho-chan." She stroked the side of his face, her fingers trailing down his neck. "He's been ingraining that response in you from the time you were born, that's not your fault. The fact that you are already separating yourself from him is a show of just how strong you are." She ran her fingers through his hair again as she leaned into his hand.

"There you go thinking I'm strong again." he smiled bitterly.

"Why don't you think you are?"

"Aydin, I cower whenever he raises his voice. I've lived in constant fear of him and what might happen if I don't do exactly what he says. I feel like a puppet and I hate it, it's like everytime I cut a string, three more attach." he said relaxing into her arms as they wound around him as they cuddled into each other.

"Oh Shoto," she kissed his neck. "Conditioned responses are hard to break away from. You're not giving yourself the credit you deserve, don't forget, you also defied your father, for so long because you wanted to use your quirks on your terms not his. You're not him. You refuse to be him. In these last two years you've grown so much, you learned how to be social and interact with others, you've made friends, you care about yourself now and you care for your friends as well, more than a lot of them give you credit for. You're still learning and growing, but you are so compassionate and you have everything it takes to be a hero. The hero that you want to be and can be proud of, not the one he wants." he sighed as his head dropped into her neck. "You don't have to be anything you don't want to be, if you want to be number one then you can be, but if you want to be the best hero rankings be damned then you can do that too."

"How do I get away from this, from him?" Shoto whispered. "It's not like he's going to let me go, he's always there haunting me."

"One day at a time." he smiled against her neck "One day at a time" her hand stroking the hair at the nape of his neck. "It's not easy, and it's not going to happen overnight, but slowly eventually it will get easier, you won't forget, but you'll be able to function without it being the first thing you think of."

"It's not the first thing I think of." Shoto confessed "Not anymore at least." her lips pressed against his.

"Shoto," he looked down to see her smiling, "You are amazing," she relaxed against him as their arms pulled one another closer, their lips brushing every few moments her arms running up and down his sides, as he tugged her even closer still, her presence calmed him down. She had his back and had stood next to him and fought for him even when he couldn't manage it. If she could do this, then he could too, especially if she was with him.

Heavy footsteps thundered down the stairs, announcing the entrance of another. "Shoto it's time for her to go, you need to train."

"I should go," he mumbled against her neck not wanting to aggravate his father anymore that night, she nodded, he pushed himself up off her. They gathered their stuff and he walked her to the door. Endeavor glared at her from the stairs, a few steps above her, heat still radiating out menacingly but not as badly as it had been at dinner.

She moved to open the door when a steely voice cut through "I will end this, I've already been in talks with another prestigious family who moved here just two years ago. One that is a much better suited match for a legacy hero like Shoto will be."

"Father." Shoto's breath caught and eyes widened, "Are you suggesting a quirk marriage?" his blood ran cold as the words passed his lips, he would not be his father, he could not be his father. But his father seemed to be pushing him down the road all the same.

"No, an arranged marriage. This family will not end up in ruin over some silly high school crush my son has."

"Don't pass judgment on me, you never even took the time to try and get to know me." Aydin said brushing off his words, her face eerily calm as she answered him, he sneered there it was again her naive courage and confidence. "Either way you can try whatever you want Endeavor, it doesn't really matter to me." she stepped forward running a hand down Shoto's arm the other against his chest, her forehead resting against him. Her eyes flicked up to stare down the current number one hero, a fire in them that sent a strange chill up his spine. "I however will tell you, I will know if you lay a hand on Shoto and any pain you inflict, I will triple against you." He glared at the girl standing in his entryway, her arms wrapped protectively around Shoto, she held him and kissed his cheek whispering her goodnight in his ear. His arms squeezed numbly around her, he looked visibly shaken as he nodded. Endeavor shook off the warning as she stepped out the door. Shoto felt a weird fuzzy feeling course through his body as the door closed, he knew it was Aydin he still hadn't fully figured out her quirk but he knew she had some sort of ability to heal and there was some control aspect, he took a breath hoping it was enough to help him, here. Shoto turned back around and a resounding smack resonating with his face, his body flying sideways from the force, he grabbed the doorway that led from the entry to the living room to keep his footing. His vision blurring and his ears ringing it took him a moment to regain awareness of his surroundings. Endeavor had closed the gap between them in a blink of an eye, he hadn't thought he'd be hit quite that soon after Aydin left.

Natsuo sighed, grimacing from his place at the top of the stairs, his heart twinged painfully as his little brother flew into the wall. Knowing that unless he wanted to get the same treatment and to make it worse for the both of them he couldn't interfere. He was about to turn away as Shoto stood back up, the strong stoic mask back in place, when he froze in disbelief, his eyes shooting open wide, if he hadn't just watched it he would have never believed what he'd just witnessed.

Endeavor's head whipped to the side, his body thrown forcefully, crashing heavily into the wall opposite Shoto leaving a sizable dent, a thought flashing through his mind before he passed out, maybe that confidence wasn't so naive. Shoto watched his father get tossed sideways "She did warn you." he said, chuckling at the sight, glad he'd regained his vision in time to watch that transpire, a smile on his face as Endeavor slumped down on the floor out cold by the sudden mysterious impact that had rocked his body.

Shoto walked up and passed his father's suddenly not so intimidating form to his room. He shed his school clothes changing into clothes better suited for training. He pulled out his phone pressing her number and hitting call, he always enjoyed talking to her as he warmed up. "Did it work?" She asked, he heard the sound of the road behind her, she must have already been driving back towards her house.

"Yea he's currently in a heap at the bottom of our stairs"

"Good." Her voice was cold as she responded but he could tell she was excited by what she'd just done.

"You also put a dent in the wall." he said, smiling as he let out a low snicker, smiling at the image.

"Whoops," she laughed, joining him in his amusement of the situation.

He shook his head, an amused smile brushing across his lips before turning into a thin line "Aydin, I'm sorry tonight turned out this way," his voice dropping to a whisper as he sighed, hoping that his father hadn't scared her away.

"Oh please, that was nothing Sho-chan." She laughed, "My family is Irish, that was nothing. You've seen how we say hello." She laughed; he knew she was exaggerating a bit but it still calmed him down a great deal that none of what his father had done had scared her. "Hey I'll call you back tomorrow, my grandfather just pulled into the driveway in front of me, he just flew in from America, so my night just filled up."

Shoto nodded even though she couldn't see it. "Ok, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Hopefully your family's get together isn't anything like mine tonight."

"No promises," She laughed slamming her car door. "I'll text you later."

"Sounds good. If I don't get to say it again tonight, have a good night and I'll talk to you in the morning." Shoto said setting up on the treadmill in the training room.

"Sho?"

"Yea?"

"I love you."

"Good night Aydin." He answered her, smiling, it wasn't the first time she'd said it, but he still couldn't bring himself to repeat those words. He wanted to, he thought he loved her back but he didn't want to say anything until he was sure. He hoped when she'd told him that it was ok, and that she wanted him to say it in his own time that she meant it, she'd told him over a month ago and he still couldn't get up the courage to tell her he felt the same. She hung up first as he stayed on the line the fact that he couldn't yet tell her the same tying up his tongue, his face burning with shame.

Two days later he found himself being dragged to a dinner with his father. His father had only dared to slap him once more since dinner with Aydin, and much to Shoto's surprise and mirth his father had once again found himself on the floor from an invisible blow triple the strength. It had taken a lot of Shoto to bite back the scathing remark that he wanted to unleash. He settled with knowing he'd warned Aydin of their training session earlier that day, knowing she'd keep an eye on him.

They were greeted at the door of a large house expansive and elaborate, more so than even the Todoroki mansion. The tall older man had orange hair the color of hot coal embers. "Ahh Hello, you must be Enji!" His father didn't seem to mind the immediate use of his first name, Shoto remembered that in many other places first names were used instead of last names, he was probably going to not be called by his last name either, something he was ok with, having already distanced himself from it with the hero name he'd chosen. The older man was strikingly handsome even at his older age, you could tell he was still fit and engaged in hero work when he had to or at least the training of heros. "I'm Patrick, we spoke on the phone." with the name Shoto suddenly realized what his father had set up, two and two had come together the red hair, the American accent, the name, his father's threat of a prestigious family. Murphy. This was the grandfather in one of the greatest Hero Legacy families in the world. This was the family his father had set him up to enter into. A heavy crash shook the wall next to them. "Ahh umm sorry about that, my grandkids are training out in the gym. They should be in shortly, the exercise is almost over." He said inviting them in, "Please come in while we wait, can I get you two anything to drink while you wait. Is whiskey alright with you both?"

"Yes, thank you." Enji said, being the perfect figure of a hero while Patrick glanced at Shoto before nodding, pouring them both a glass of whiskey in the dining room, Shoto's was considerably lighter and cut with water though, making a light joke about it.

Patrick led them through the kitchen and into a sitting room. A woman with auburn hair and sky blue eyes was milling around the kitchen and gave him a gentle smile, nodding her head to him slightly as they passed. The sitting room was partially connected to the kitchen only a half wall separating the two rooms, the open floor plan allowing them all to hear the conversation. Shoto stopped between the two rooms just behind his father.

A man Shoto guessed with the woman's husband caught his attention as he entered from another room. He was carrying some sort of stick like appliance, he nodded curtly to Endeavor as their eyes met. They greeted each other with a firm handshake, before he went back into the kitchen with his wife, kissing her forehead, sweeping some of her hair back and tucking it behind her ear. The man gave off an arcadian air, but was sturdy and confident in his movements, his size was nothing comparable to his own father's, but he felt at ease around the man. His black hair pulled up into a neat bun and eyes of hazel green were calm and steady as they observed everyone. He immediately started helping the woman with dinner, Shoto didn't miss the gentle touches and smiles they shared as they worked. Was that what parents who loved each other looked like? The sight of them made Shoto's heart ache, an arranged marriage, he wouldn't have that, he wanted Aydin's arms around him.

Patrick and Enji took the two chairs leaving the Shoto to pick one of the couches. He settled on the couch across from the fireplace, dead center of everyone's attention, but closest to his father. "Now Shoto, you must be wondering about my granddaughter," Patrick mused. "It is only natural, seeing as she is to be your wife if everything works out."

"Works out?" he asked, his voice thank goodness was steady, even though he wasn't.

"Well of course, I'm not going to marry her off to just anyone, and she has to like you as well." Patrick laughed. Shoto shifted uncomfortably as he caught the expression on the girl's mother's face, she didn't look completely comfortable with what was going on which made him even more uneasy.

"I too am interested in the qualities of your granddaughter." Enji engaged the older man. It was just like his father.

The man smirked, "Well, she is one of the strongest in her year at her school from what I've come to understand from her parents reports. She has been trained thoroughly in multiple styles of martial arts, multiple languages, music, dance and other skills of benefit to any top hero, as a legacy family all my children and grandchildren have been held to a high standard. We spend the majority of their grade school homeschooling them at my manor in New York to ensure they are ready for the life and work that comes with being a pro hero."

"Shoto your father told me a bit about the amount you train. Though not as rigorous or intense as what my granddaughter has endured, it sounds like you two may have some sort of common ground in that department." Shoto nodded again not sure if he should be offended or laugh at the slight jabs the man was taking at his father and his own training schedule.

"And her quirk?"

"Ahh Enji, you know the Murphy family quirk is a secret, but I can tell you, her's is the strongest one of her generation and the one before it, I've seen her rival All Might when I last watched them spar. She no doubt could take even you down." Patrick laughed dismissing Endeavor with a casual wave, as if he couldn't hold a candle to the Murphy family. Which as far as Shoto had heard, almost no hero or villain alive could beat a Murphy when it came down to it, they were the pro world's ultimate Ace. Shoto shifted uncomfortably this man really wasn't giving Endeavor much credit, he could already tell from his tightening shoulders that he was steadily getting angrier with the old man, but was keeping it under control for the sake of appearances and to hopefully marry Shoto into their ranks. It was always another stepping stone for him. Feet were heard in the house along with a closing of a door. "Ah they must be done. I'm sure she is just going to freshen up before coming out to meet you." Patrick said. Endeavor continued to converse with Patrick while Shoto spaced out, he hadn't even touched the drink he'd been poured. He was shaken out as two more people arrived in the kitchen both with dark red hair matching the woman's beelining for the fridge, the boy got there first and opened the door before being soundly hip checked out of the way. The girl's long hair was down, Shoto's eyes narrowed, he knew those two. She grabbed a drink out tossing one to the other before backing up and hoping up onto the island that was in the middle. He couldn't hear their conversation clearly but he saw the girl nod her hair bouncing as she picked up a spoon and gave something on the stove a stir while the other boy moved to help grabbing plates down from the cupboards and utensils out of drawers.

"Ahh there she is, Aydin, please I would like you to meet someone. Grab a glass on your way in so you can toast with us." Patrick called, she stuck her hand in the air giving them a thumbs up as she drained the bottle she had in her hand. His heart leapt, hammering against his ribs at the sound of her name, no wonder she hadn't been worried, she'd known. A fact that suddenly made a lot of sense, she'd seemed weirdly dismissive at his anxiety over tonight earlier that day. She always had been quick when it came to insight and putting things together, and rarely realized that what was obvious to her, no one else saw coming until, like now, it hit them square in the face. She leaned back grabbing two glasses, the boy he now realized was Matt, tossing a giant cube of ice up to her from the freezer, as she tossed him down a glass. She caught it in her glass popping the cork off a bottle of whiskey pouring some into the glass before passing it. Shoto glanced over at his father, a smile starting to creep on to his face as his father's eyes widened, not believing what he was seeing or hearing.

"I appreciate that offer Papa, but I believe that I should be the one introducing you to my boyfriend not the other way around." Aydin mused, walking out and taking the seat next to Shoto their legs brushing together her jeans against his slacks.

"You knew!" Patrick laughed.

"Of course, I've known for the last two days." Aydin shrugged, reaching to interlock her fingers with Shoto's. "I was over at Sho-chan's when Todoroki-san came down the stairs talking about it, there was only one family fitting his description.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Enji spit out his face growing red with anger, Shoto biting his lip to keep from laughing at her deliberate use of the nickname she'd given him and the honorifics she used in addressing both him and his father.

"It means that my granddaughter has just played both of us." Patrick was still chuckling at the prospect.

"Like a fiddle" Aydin smiled leaning against Shoto as he relaxed considerably, this night had suddenly gotten much better and he didn't have to force himself to be the cookie cutter version of himself his father always wanted to present to the world. He was already accepted here.

"Aydin."

"Yes."

"Next time telling me, um earlier, would save us all some pain."

"But that takes all the fun out of it." Aydin smiled even wider as she took a small sip of her whiskey. The old man laughed engaging with Endeavor again.

"Is this normal for you?" Shoto asked looking pointedly at the drink in his hand that was still untouched, not quite sure what to do with it. He placed his arm over her shoulders pulling her against him, despite the annoyed look on his father's face as he realized he'd walked right into a corner of his own making. It hadn't been naivety he'd seen in her, it had been confidence and knowledge that she held all the cards and she knew it, he had egregiously underestimated her.

"You don't have to drink it if you don't want to, but yes. It's not uncommon in our family to have a drink at home with family, my grandfather is originally from Ireland where they have a very different take on drinking, so both of us would be able to order beer or wine with dinner if we were out to dinner." she explained as she tucked her feet up onto the couch. He nodded glancing at his father who was glaring at him and looked at his full glass, almost naturally moving to show his almost empty one.

"Yea I don't think I'm being given much of a choice." Shoto muttered in her ear.

"You always have a choice, love" she placed her drink on her leg next to where his drink was resting. "I can always take yours and get you something else."

"Would you mind?" he asked quietly, unsure of how to handle the mix of signals, before defaulting to her since he was in her house, and with her family.

"Not at all," She stood pulling him up with her and into the kitchen, she took his glass pouring the contents into her glass "Don't worry my grandfather won't mind either, if anything he'll like you more for it. He has a weird thing about people who don't let others define them."

"Well that certainly explains a lot" Shoto laughed, as she held up a pot of tea he nodded. "Are you his favorite then?" he asked as she poured him a glass of the warm tea.

"No," she said as Matt said 'Yes' next to her, he shook his head a smile on his face taking the tea as he watched the cousins dissolve into a bickering match.

"Riona, dear, how's dinner coming?" Her grandpa called, interrupting the conversation he was having with Enji.

"Almost done!" The woman called from next to him. "I'm just finishing up with the soup,"

"Do you need any help?" he asked, her setting down his tea. She looked over at Aydin and Matt who were currently shoving one another, as they argued and laughed. The site sent a pained twinge through his chest as it jogged his was what his siblings looked like when he'd seen them playing in the courtyard together as children. He'd always been forced to walk past them, never allowed to join in, he was different, he was better, he was special, he had to train, he wasn't like them; but he'd always wanted to be them, it looked like fun.

"That would be wonderful, the soba is in a big bowl in the fridge if you could grab it." She rolled her eyes at her daughter and nephew as they crashed into the island "Careful of the burners you two." she called carrying the plates, her husband followed them with a water pitcher, the tea kettle, the bottle of whiskey and a few condiments. He set the bowl in the middle of the table. "Thank you!" She smiled at him, "Shoto was it?" He nodded. "I'm Riona, or Regime when I'm out working, and this is Koichi my husband, or Anatom if you're going by his hero name. I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of you from here on out. You're more than welcome to come over whenever you'd like." Riona was kind as she welcomed him into the house, Koichi placed a hand on her shoulder, quiet but strong showing that he mirrored his wife's sentiments toward him. He'd heard of both of them before, Izuku was slowly becoming obsessed with them, meaning he wouldn't shut up about it whenever they made the headlines, since their quirks were both unknown, allowing them to be an incredibly effective duo, who were quickly rising in the ranks.

"Thank you, I appreciate the offer, dinner looks wonderful." He inclined his head in a shallow bow.

"Oh Aydin made it earlier today, she said it was your favorite." Riona said as she finished setting out the plates and utensils.

His face broke into a warm smile as he caught her eye in the next room. His heart suddenly felt both light and heavy, his head spinning with a pleasant aloofness; he needed her in his arms. "It is." he turned back to them excusing himself walking over to her. He caught her waist with one hand shoving Matt gently off her the other hand cupping her cheek pulling her close to him. "I love you." he whispered to her, his forehead pressing against hers. Her lips immediately reacted to his words fusing with his. Her arms wrapping around his neck, immediately as she pressed against him grinning from ear to ear as she melted into him.

Across the room, Endeavor was silently fuming, he hated to lose and lose he had. "Well, it seems like this arrangement is going to work out Enji." Patrick acknowledged "Let's go eat before those two get any more carried away." Enji nodded stiffly, immensely disliking the current state, even though he had to admit it was exactly what he'd wanted to happen.

* * *

**End Flashback**

* * *

That had been the beginning of a new chapter for him, one that had led to him being happier than he'd ever thought was possible when he started high school. She was exactly where she'd always been, right next to him as both a support and an anchor, his wife, his love, his confidante, they had grown to be quite the pair. He adjusted their position on the couch so she was laying on top of him, her head able to tuck neatly under his chin. He kissed her forehead again, she sighed even as her face pinched in pain at the contact. He really should have saved her this headache, he thought as he brought his right hand up, holding it to her head, knowing he brought her some relief as she pressed gently into his palm. He chuckled "This is really why you married me isn't it." he teased.

She laughed keeping her eyes closed "Aww was it that obvious?"

"It is now that I'm your personal ice pack." He laughed as she pulled her head out of his hand burying her head in the left side of his neck kissing his collarbone.

"But you make such a nice cuddly ice pack." he groaned as she pressed against him.

"Ngghaahh!" he gasped, before narrowing his eyes at her "Not cool Aydin," he growled biting his lip.

"No, I'm not but you are." she pressed into him again.

"You don't play fair" he hissed, gripping her hips to stop them as his head fell back .

"You really should have already figured that out love."

"Oh I knew, you take care to remind me often enough, but first things first I'm hungry."

"Oh?" She pulled away, smirking.

"Aydin, I'm actually hungry." he rolled his eyes even as he smiled back at her stealing a kiss. "Besides I'm at work and you told Lodestone we were here if he needed anything, I'd rather him not walk in on us." he reasoned, emphasizing that she had been the one to tell Lodestone where they were if he needed anything.

She pouted playfully, a second kiss breaking it up. "Fine." she relented. "Hand me my bag. I was actually on my way to bring you lunch when I got stopped."

He arched back looking back to find her bag before, snagging it, dragging it to them. His hand dropping into it pulling out a tub, holding it up, Soba, he used his other arm to pull her flush against him as he kissed her again, "Have I told you I love you lately." he mumbled against her lips.

* * *

**AN: Ok, If you can guess the Disney movie Aydin quoted during her fight, I'll send you a preview of a scene I've written for a few chapters in the future. (Googling it is cheating ;P)**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The small group was scattered around the abandoned bar on the river, 4:30am on a Sunday, not even the church dwellers were awake yet. Eyes watched from the shadows of the bar the dark corners allowed Fais to slip inside quietly and unnoticed. Four of the Lieutenants were already there, one was late. Fais scanned the room. Slade, Liqui, Tarnish and Dabi were already lounging around the room, waiting for the final person to show, Fais waited listening astutely from their covered place. "They are late," Dabi said, his low voice cutting through the silence from the place he was lounging, on his back on a table his feet kicked up onto a divide that ran between booths, his head hanging off the back of the table.

A woman with long mint green hair and shaved sides looked up, "Fais isn't gonna like that." Slade commented from her perch on the abandoned bar top, her eyes flitting to the corner Fais was currently residing in, a smirk curling on her lips. Nothing escaped the knife wielding ninja for long.

"Fais isn't even here yet, how would they know." A woman said from their place on the floor stretching adjusting slowly as she contorted on the floor, Liqui, the newest of the Lieutenants group, this was only her second time at a Lieutenant meeting.

"How new are you to how Fais works" a voice cut through from the balcony above the metal banded mask and black bandana covered and semi tamed an unruly mat of rusty blonde waves, Tarnish.

Dabi yawned "Well I hope Kerra shows soon, I'm not exactly fond of early mornings and I'd like to get some sleep after this, before I need to be a functioning human for the day."

"Well I like this league" Liqui stated from her place on the dirty floor.

"We aren't a league," Slade hissed, pulling out a polishing rag and a thin dagger from her sleeve.

"No?" Liqui asked her mouth curling as her head tilted to the side, her eyes wide. "Then why do we work together to take down the unworthy?"

"We do,"

"And we work together"

"Again true,"

"Then how are we not an underground league, or army or ohh a club!" The girls bounced up excitedly.

"Ugh, what is it with the crazy ones, always wanting to be in a secret club." Tarnish sighed from his post in the balcony. "We act as individuals, at least that's how the four of us started, then Fais found us and introduced us to each other, we just all happen to share a common goal. Fais just happened to be the glue for us all, leading us toward what we all envisioned, putting it within a tangible reach."

Dabi rolled his eyes at Liqui before nodding to Tarnish showing his agreement, even Slade cracked a smile, indulging him with an affirming nod. He laid back again looking at Liqui, amusing himself by snapping his fingers, blue flames licking to life in his fingertips then off again with each snap. "Just for future reference Liqui we don't use the word league. It's too close to All for One's bullshit world domination vision." He snapped "We don't use gang or group, it rings to close the Overhaul's idiotic idea of making the world quirkless." He snapped again. "We don't use the word army, we aren't heroes and our goal isn't to fight against them directly" Snap. "We don't use the word club, we aren't children." Snap. "We don't use cult, we aren't blindly following or brainwashed." Snap. "We all decided this was the right path, Fais just gave it a face." Snap. "We are the Lieutenants of an underground movement." Snap. "It's about changing the world and the way that they think. It's not about forcing it upon them."

A new voice cut in with a gooey lilt and a breathy air "They will willingly embark on this journey with us, it's always been a fight to change how heroes are seen, how they are treated. Our world treats them like they are royalty, it just feeds the selfish acts, they all have demons, they all get away with it, its power, money and fame."

"Always the delightful one aren't you Kerra. It's 4:35 in the morning, give the romanticism a rest" Slade rolled her eyes. The pink haired man beamed, his gold and white coat sparkled even in the dark bar.

"Always my dear!" He flourished stepping into the room, and over to Slade taking her hand that didn't have the dagger and kissing it.

"I'm not above stabbing you right now" Slade bit out her eyes narrowing at the overly enthusiastic man who'd kissed her hand. Her dagger pointed at his nose as he backed away his hands up as he backed away.

He spun his coat flaring out around him as he turned to the girl on the floor "Liqui my lovely little fledgling. It's like a fashion line." he mused, causing Tarnish and Dabi to groan, not another baseless metaphor. Kerra twirled, dancing around the booths gliding smoothly as he tangoed by himself. "We provide the base!" His feet moving fluidly in a basic rhythm sidestepping the stick Dabi swang at his legs at the perfect moment. "We provide the flare!" His movements became dramatic as his arms lifted as if holding an imaginary follow. "We provide a solid framework." He paused briefly before continuing to strut. "We lead the way through action. Action is always louder than any words." He got closer and closer to the corner Fais was hidden in "Until their movements become ours and ours become theirs." He held out his hand to Fais. "I'm sorry for being late, the ghosts woke up on the wrong side of my head." He bowed, as Fais smacked his hand away sharply stepping forward the dark hooded bodysuit and voice modulator in place.

"What are the reports?"

"Aww Fais, I'm hurt. You normally play," He took a step back, his hands clasped over his heart dramatically.

"You're normally not late."

"You wound me, my soul-

"Is already as black as your heart, don't try to convince me of anything different," Fais waved him off with a dismissive flick of their hand. "Now where are your reports?" Fais turned looking at the pink haired man and the rest of the lieutenants in the room.

"I love it when you're demanding" Kerra sighed, as he flounced forward to grasp Fais' hand again, who pulled away.

"Dabi. Get him back on track would you." Fais said, walking away from the exuberant man circling behind the bar grabbing a glass and placing it on the bar grabbing a bottle of scotch off the wall, allowing a neat three finger pour to douse the glass. "I don't want to be here all day either."

Dabi sat up a wicked grin sliding onto his face, snapping his fingers, flames licking up his hand and arm. "I'm thinking the shoes." He looked down to survey Kerra's feet where an expensive pair of white leather dress shoes adorned his feet.

Kerra stopped his face twisting in displeasure, "Low blow." he huffed, grumbling to himself under his breath, pouting as he crossed his arms. But nonetheless he reached into his coat, "Here's what I have." He pulled out a stack of packets. Tossing them onto the table. "The internal records from the Support items facility."

Slade tossed a thick stack onto the table as well. "I have the bank records, if they paid someone off to keep them quiet, or have a nasty habit they are trying to hide it's in those."

Dabi set his packet down too, "I have the records from the hotline, council and police station. If they miss using their power and are hurting their family or are misreporting it'll be there." He hissed his eyes narrowing, for as aloof as he tried to act, they all knew he had a very deep seeded hate for pros misusing their fame to get away with breaking the law. Fais always appreciated his dedication and tenacity when it came to exposing the heroes who took advantage of their positions of power.

Fais glanced up at Tarnish who looked back, tossing his packet, from the balcony. Fais was ready, with a wave of their hand, the air thickening, slowing the fall til it stopped in the air and then moved across the room to drop onto the growing stack.

Fais floated a stack of their own out onto the table as well. "Villains and our current records" Fais reached through a wall pulling a hidden lever that only Fais could access, a wall of filing cabinets slid out into the room. Fais then reached up grabbing a handle from behind the bar, pulling down two long lists, a list of Heroes and their true names and alias', adding new names to the list with the new heros who had just passed their full licensing exam. Some had been scratched out, those names were on the second list, targets. Other names had question marks next to them a few had multiple, as they had been looked into multiple times.

"Which agency did you break into?" Liqui asked, her eyes widening, "Only heroes have access to the villain database."

"Identifying information isn't exchanged here Liqui." Fais mused cooly, dismissing the girl's question. "We don't ask, we just contribute what we can, we all have our sources." Liqui blushed her cheeks turning crimson as Fais called her out. "Have you realized how this goes yet?" Fais looked over at Liqui, who nodded her understanding. "Then let's get to sorting and picking our targets. Go put up your question marks." Liqui, stood up and walked to the pile. The other three rose stepping behind the bar, Fais handing a marker to them stepping out from behind the now crowded bar. As they each made a mark on the poster next to a hero they wanted to investigate further into. Fais turned to the balcony, "Who are we crossing over Tarnish?" The large man smiled leaping down from the balcony, landing below. He took the pen held out to him as he stepped behind the bar scratching out two names with question marks from the previous meeting, rewriting them onto the list containing the current and the now past hero target names. Tarnish dropped two files onto the bar top with the names of the heros, Pop-off and Best-Jeanist before moving over to the table where Fais had busied themself sorting and organizing papers into stacks by person. The others joined Fais who was at the table sorting through the papers placing them into stacks. They shuffled around the tables, and with the distant chime of 6am church bells six villain targets had been placed on the bar with the two heros in one stack. The Targets. In another sat five packets all Heros, The Suspects. And the other files had been filed in the wall of cabinets under the respective hero or villain they pertain too.

"Who's in the suspect pile?" Dabi asked the same question every time they met, he wasn't willing to look behind him at the list, his jaw set firmly as he pressed his wide spread hands heavily into the table.

Fais thumbed through the folders reading the names. "Edgeshot, Uravity, Creati, Endeavor and the duo Anatom and Regime." Dabi scowled at the names.

"Those are some high-up suspects we've picked." Slade commented nodding in approval of the targets with a smirk growing on her lips.

"Oh the romance of it! They are all so high and they have so much further to fall! The stars of our world are crumbling at our feet! The fires that take them down, a spark, a Phoenix from the ashes of their demise! A tragic tale of false heros-"

"Kerra, no one wants to listen to your demented speeches about death being romantic, its not romantic. You really need to sort your shit man." Dabi snapped, cutting off Kerra from another contrived metaphor about the end they were working towards.

"Well excuse me for wanting to commemorate our potential conquest of some of the current and ex top 10 heros in our society."

"Not everyone wants to celebrate a possibility. Do it after we take them down." Dabi stepped in front of the pink haired vigilante, challenging him with a cool gaze daring him to engage.

"I'm trying to be motivational!" Kerra exclaimed ever the dramatic, but he shifted his weight setting his feet.

"Will either of you ever shut up. Some of us have places we need to be." Tarnish growled yanking the two apart. "Babysitting you two was never something I signed up for."

Fais waited til they'd stopped bickering and had been adequately separated. "So if there is something to find it will either be easy to find or it's going to be hidden very carefully." Fais mused, Slade agreed, flipping open the packets Fais toss onto the table for them to see.

"These may take more than one week to research properly."

"I agree, let's say two weeks." Fais said, receiving a nod from the lieutenants. The setting of a new meeting time signified the end of the current meeting. The lieutenants each slipped out of the building and into what was now dawn lit streets except one who sat down at the bar. Fais sorted through the target and suspect folders organizing them. Fais reached out sliding the drink that was still sitting on the bar top untouched down the bar. "What is it?"

"He's guilty,"

"I know."

"Then why hasn't he been dealt with already?" Dabi snarled his eyes glinting his voice rough as he glared at the hooded figure behind the bar, fire licking up his arms and across his shoulders.

Water sprayed him in the face shocking the tall man who jumped up planting his hand on the counter "Chill out with the Hell Flames, you have a flammable in your hand." Fais chided, Dabi glared back seeing that Fais hadn't looked up but still had the bar gun pointed at him. He sat back down and stifled his flames but steam still rose off his shoulders as he used his heat to dry his face, hair and clothes; Fais put the bar gun away. Fais finished filing the packets away before walking over and leaning back against the bar across from Dabi. "He's high profile; taking down a hero with a long standing history of being in the top two is difficult, and time consuming, it's taken time to gather the evidence needed, and it'll take a lot more to actually make the world see and believe it. We need more than just you to turn on him, Touya." Dabi snarled, leaping the bar in a flash, his hand lighting up as the drink was thrown forwards at Fais' face. Fais was unphased by the reaction though, meeting the drink with a wave of a black gloved hand which swirled the liquid out of mid air and deposited the drink back into the glass "Don't waste good Scotch."

"You said no identifying information." Dabi's eyes were wide, rage and panic flashing in them as he glared at the hooded figure.

"Please, I know exactly who all of you are. You're living on naive hopes if you didn't already realize that."

"I've buried that name, how did you know."

"You've given me more than enough information to figure it out. Your quirk, the turquoise eyes, your stature, the hair, you forgot to up the dye job about 7 months ago, the red roots were showing, your fury towards Enji, your reluctance to go after Shoto and the worry you tried to hide when he was placed on the investigation list, your relief when nothing showed up from it. Calling them both by their full names, not their alias'."

"Well aren't you observant." Dabi huffed his glare still icy as he watched the hooded figure.

"How do you think I ended up here, and with this movement being so successful." Fais shot back. "People have tried this in the past, but until now it's never gained traction." Dabi thought for a second before giving Fais a reluctant nod affirming the words spoken were correct, moving to sit back in his seat.

"So do you finally have enough to ruin that abusive asshole?"

"Completely, out of all of them, this is one we have to do right, we have to take him down publicly and show just how much our society's hero worship has done. Letting the people they call heros masquerade behind a title and be criminally horrible to those they claim to love, hiding their actions instead of owning them." Fais moved to sit on the bar top next to Dabi, putting a gloved hand on Dabi's shoulder. "If done right, this will tip the scales in our balance and turn the talks to reforming the laws to keep heros accountable and true too what a hero in our world should be across the board."

Dabi nodded "I still want to take him down, he should have never been a father, not with how he treated Shoto, Natsuo, Fuyumi, myself, or our mother." he took a drink, as Fais' hood moved with a nod, agreeing with the black haired man they were silent for the rest for the time, when Dabi finished his drink he left exiting out a side door disappearing into the dawn lit morning.

Dabi walked along the river, his hands shoved deep in his pockets as he walked, his hood yanked up. There was no way he was going to be able to sleep after that, he shook his head as he walked trying to clear his mind. He liked the quiet of the morning, the city still waking up, as he enjoyed the mild buzz from the scotch, the brisk air of the morning cooling his alcohol warmed face. He finally stopped moving long enough to look around, the buzz gone, but the warmth of the alcohol had been replaced by the warm morning sun. He was in a quaint neighborhood, modest houses lining the streets behind the shops that were on the street he was walking down, a cafe was just down the street. The street had early morning risers milling around the streets, he could go for a coffee, especially now that he wasn't going to go back to sleep and to soothe out the sedation the scotch had left in his mind. The cafe on the corner looked to be the perfect place for just that, he strolled in ordering a cup of coffee and a toasted bagel taking a seat at the bar top that looked in on the back room where the cafe's pastries were being made. He pulled out his phone reading through the news headlines.

He sighed, his head dropping into his hand, as he scrolled not even reading the headlines. He listened to the customers in the cafe as they walked in and out with their orders of coffee and breakfast. Each time the bell on the door rang and the young woman at the cash register would perk up, she seemed to know everyone who entered. "Ahh Todoro-"

Dabi's head jolted up, his entire body tensing up, he knew that name, panic flooded his veins, his head spinning as he glanced to the mirror at the end of the bar, as the voice in his head silently pleaded 'Not my father, not my father, please don't be Enji'. His eyes locked onto the new customer, a woman had walked in, she was smaller than him but was athletically built. Her face was kind, hazel green eyes were offset by dark auburn hair, he recognized her from the photo in Shoto's file back at the bar he'd exited a few hours ago, Aydin Henkan, his little brother's wife.

"Haruhi-san." A warning tone exited the auburn woman's mouth, "Don't you dare finish that name." He shook his head slowly releasing the tension in his muscles, "How many times must I tell you." Her voice was light and gentle now. "It's just Aydin, but if you insist on calling me by my last name, it's Henkan, just like all my students call me."

"If you insist, Henkan-san." the woman smiled. "What can I get for you?"

"A small hot chocolate, a large black coffee and a green tea. Do you have any of those rainbow sprinkle donuts, Sho got Takea one last week and it's all she's wanted for breakfast all week." The pretty girl behind the counter laughed.

"Of course!"

"That man spoils her rotten, I swear she has him wrapped around her finger."

"Sounds like a great father." Dabi found his voice coming out of his mouth before he could stop it.

A laugh rang out next to him. "Yea he is." He could hear the smile in her voice, his little brother's wife. The door chimed again "Haruhi, can I get a bagel and a cheese danish as well?"

"No Soba this time?" The woman laughed her mouth twitching to the side.

"No, I just made him some last night, he should be good for another two days." Aydin said.

"Just give me a few minutes on that danish, they are finishing up in the blast chiller so the icing doesn't melt off of them." Haruhi smiled.

"Not a problem, Haruhi-san, can I get the coffee in a mug then? I'll be here when they are ready. It's Sho's day off and he wanted to wake up Takea so no rush, when I left they had just started a movie in our bed. Besides as much as I love them we all enjoy a bit of time to ourselves, especially with an 18 month old running around." Haruhi laughed but nodded. Dabi watched her out of the corner of his eye as she sat down at the counter top a seat down from him, her other goodies in a bag and the drinks in a travel carrier. She relaxed taking a sip of her coffee. Haruhi smiled as she bustled around behind the counter refilling orders.

"So are you a Pro hero too?" Dabi suddenly found his mouth moving, before he could think to stop himself. Aydin's eyebrow rose as she tilted her head towards him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to overstep, I just overheard." What was he saying? Was he really fishing for information because he knew she was his brother's wife? The little voice in his head answered quickly, yes, yes he was. He still cared about his family, they were still his flesh and blood at the end of the day.

Aydin waved off his apology "No, it's fine, I should be used to it at this point, I'm not huge on the attention that goes with the title or legacy names, that's why I try to go by my maiden name whenever possible. My husband's hero name is the same as his first though so that tends to clue people in, and his family is fairly well known. But to answer your question yes I have my pro card, but I'm not with an agency. I teach over at UA, I only get called in for special circumstance cases."

"Special circumstances?" Dabi questioned, he never would have thought that would have been allowed by his father, his father was notoriously fame and power hungry.

"My quirk allows me a certain skill set that I prefer to use when I choose to, instead of out of necessity for survival." Aydin shrugged.

"Way to avoid the question."

"Never said I'd answer it. Besides I gave you enough to get close." They sat for a few minutes more when a man walked in, he was trembling as he stared into the case with all the breakfast items. Aydin's eyes narrowed. He had on a hoodie and one hand was tucked in the front pocket, she moved forward silently and nimbly she touched the man's hand that was on the glass case, "They aren't out yet, but this place has the best cheese danishes." Aydin said, the man jumped, spinning on her, she just nodded "So I was right." She nodded to his pocket which had moved, Dabi was the only one seeing the gun pointed directly at Aydin's stomach as the man shook even more.

Dabi's eyes widened, how had she picked up on that, how was she so calm, who was this person. "You don't know anything." The man hissed.

"I know enough, you're scared, this wasn't your first choice, you haven't planned this through, so it's an act of desperation. And I know from those few things, you aren't going to pull that trigger. So how about you flip that safety back on and we talk, do you want a coffee?" Dabi watched as he heard the low click of the safety being engaged. The man's face went blank, nodding numbly confirming what she'd said, he let her lead him to the chair she had just been occupying. "Haruhi-san can I get another cup of coffee, a refill for mine and a second cheese danish?"

"Of course! Oh my gosh I am so sorry I forgot to get you your first one!"

"It's fine Haruhi-san. I meant it when I said no rush." Aydin smiled. Dabi stared at her, this was not a normal pro hero. He reacted to the weird feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him to record this upcoming conversation. He swiped through his phone rapidly, hitting record before closing out of the app and pulling up a messaging app typing to a group chat quickly. "Ok, we have food and warm drinks on the way, so that is settled. Now then let's talk, what got you to this point? And just as a point of reference, I teach hormonal high schoolers who think a school dance is the end of the world so trust me when I tell you that there is nothing you could say that I haven't heard before or can't deal with." The man nodded her words calming him.

He took a sip of his coffee spilling half of it down his sweatshirt as his hand still shook, "Nothing you haven't heard?"

"Nope,"

"Quirkless?"

"Yep. One of my good friends is."

"Broke?"

"Yes."

The man paused "Abused?"

Aydin sighed. "Yes, someone very close to me dealt with that for years"

"How did you deal with that one?"

Aydin bit her lip and sighed her face sympathetic "With the abuse, I didn't handle it as well as I could have. It was someone I cared about a lot and their parent was the one who was hurting them. I was young and I acted more on instinct than rationally, and I may have put them all but through a wall… twice." Dabi's eyes flew open, this woman had put Enji through a wall on more than one occasion, he felt a genuine smile unfurl on his face, this was a hero he could get behind.

The man nodded, the worry still plastered across his face. "And if they are all together?"

"I haven't heard of that, not all three together," Aydin admitted, her voice slow as she contemplated the words. Her voice etched with sympathy giving both him and the man the resolute impression that she was taking this issue incredibly seriously. "But I've dealt with each one before or within a grouping of some kind. Can you give me more details? The more I know the better I can make a plan." Dabi felt an odd admiration for this woman, a pro who resembled what they had been fighting for.

His eyes suddenly shot open wide, he'd found a pro who so far embodied the world Fais and the 5 Lieutenants wanted for the world. He had found a pro with a claim to recognition too, getting people to follow his brother's wife would be easier than finding a low level unknown pro off the streets and molding them into recognition. She had a strong moral compass, was compassionate, kind and completely non judgmental and tactical. He swiftly told the other lieutenants, he'd found a potential candidate in the hero world to take their group public, they were keeping it quiet from Fais, wanting to do as much research as they could before bringing it to the boss' attention. He was glad he'd started recording this conversation.

The man nodded, settling down he took a long sip of coffee, feeling more confident and comfortable. He told her his story, his daughter was young, quirkless and had been preyed upon by a firm, one that offered financial help, paying off her debts. But in return she was forced into working in what essentially was a whore house to pay back the money. But the debt never went down or it did at an incredibly slow rate. If she didn't follow house rules they would hurt her and the others to keep them in line, she had barely gotten him a letter and as she had said in the letter she was surely going to pay the consequences for it when she got back to the house she'd snuck out of to send it.

By the end of the chat, Aydin had offered to help him, and figured out a game plan for the man and his next few days. She had made calls to people and set up a team of pros, talked to the police to create a task force for the takedown. She'd called a hospital and warned them that they were going to see an influx in patients and what was going to be needed to evaluate them both physically and mentally. She'd called a few agencies and set up the precedent that would get the victims interviews with them for the possibility of getting new jobs, when they were mentally ready.

The man had hugged her sobbing violently against her shoulder thanking her profusely for helping him so thoroughly. She was gentle and comforting to the man, but strength in her resolve and her ability to quickly make a plan and execute it with a full team in place within 20 minutes of the man sitting down was impressive. Dabi had been shocked, it seemed that she only needed to say her name over the phone and people had jumped on board with her.

He watched the news and sure enough a few days later the story had been covered. Dabi read about a take down of a whore house run by the awful couple who prayed on those less fortunate, paying off the debts of quirkless individuals, who then worked as indentured slaves, in the house as prostitutes to pay back the money. They were broke, abused and the debt never lowered. Aydin had put a stop to the whole thing even though her name was never mentioned, Dabi knew it was her from listening to that conversation in the cafe. The whole article rang true to exactly what she had said she would make happen and all the phone calls she had made.

Dabi had forwarded the recording he had made of the conversation to the other lieutenants as well as the link to the news article. In his mind, he'd found a person who the world might just listen to when it came to their ideas about change. This was someone he wanted to get their help on investigating before he brought it up to Fais. After listening to the recording and reading the article they had all agreed, Aydin Henkan, was a real candidate to bring home the movement and instigate real change.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you all liked the chapter! Stay safe this weekend! I know we all say it but I promise the more reviews we get the faster we write. Also I'm going with the Dabi's a Todoroki Theory, in my mind it makes too much sense to discount it. Ok Hope you enjoyed it! **


	7. Chapter 7

Two weeks later the five lieutenants stood in the bar. The time had just passed 1:30 in the morning, they all were staring at the hero suspect and target boards where Endeavor's name was crossed out on the hero side and rewritten under target. "We have to do this where everyone can see it."

"The Billboard awards." Dabi said. "They already have a huge following."

Fais nodded slowly. "Turn his triumph into his undoing?"

Dabi nodded "Exactly, It's the perfect place to show the country just how screwed up the hero world can be, show them the monsters they put on these ridiculous pedestals while true heros work without the need for recognition or any of those stupid rankings."

"Cold, even for you." Fais mused.

"This one hits close to home." Dabi hissed, basically calling dibs on running the take down, Fais sighed at his emotional reaction.

"I'm guessing you want to run point on this?" Dabi nodded. "Anyone have an issue with it?" Fais asked looking around the room, none of them had an objection, which in hindsight should have tipped Fais off that the Lieutenants were planning something. "Ok, just don't let your emotions get into this, that's how we end up with a botched operation. If at any point I think you can't handle this I will order you to stand down. Is that understood?"

"Understood." Dabi nodded, convinced Fais would thoroughly approve of the plan he'd started unrolling. He locked eyes with Tarnish who nodded understanding what Dabi wanted him to do.

"Fais." Tarnish turned to the smaller hooded form. Fais turned toward the lavender eyed man, "I found an odd report that went to the council this last week."

"Oh?" Fais questioned "What was it?"

"It was a report that was signed by a hero that as far as I've seen isn't up on our board. They took down that whore house on the river a mile down or so."

"A hero not on our board?" Fais asked "We have all active heros working out of agencies on this board."

"I know" Tarnish acknowledged "That's why this threw me off. I asked a few contacts about the hero who signed the reports, turns out they don't work out of an agency, and they don't normally take work as a citizen facing hero."

"Interesting, who is it?"

"So far I don't have much, just a few reports and names including a hero name, Corpus Iuris, but then it gets interesting they seem to have 3 last names, each more confusing than the last. But it's enough to have me interested."

"Isn't that the hero that was part of the One for All take down?" Slade asked, her eyes widening at the name, Dabi nodded, that was the only 1 of the 4 heroes involved in the take down that hadn't made it into the top 25 of the rankings that year. In fact Corpus Iuris hadn't even made the top 75; she came in at 87th and hadn't been ranked since.

"That is one of the many huge operations she has been a part of," Tarnish nodded.

"Why haven't we come across this name before?"

"She seems to keep out of the spotlight, she teaches a theory class at UA one of the most popular ones and has voiced a general upset with the way things are currently being run by the council." Tarnish said. "The classes are recorded and alumni can access them as well as the students. She has a very unique perspective"

"You mentioned three names? What makes them so confusing?" Liqui asked her head tilting,

"Because each carries a huge amount of weight, but all together, she may be one of the most influential heros our world has ever seen by name alone."

Kerra's eyes widened. "How have we never heard of her."

"Probably because she doesn't want to be heard of," Fais mused "Someone with that much influence can probably choose to fly under the radar"

Tarnish nodded. "That's exactly why, she is All Might's God-daughter to start with, She is married to Shoto Todoroki current number 2 hero, her parents are Koichi Henkan, Anatom and Riona Murphy, Regime, the current top duo ranking still at 15, but this also makes her a Murphy by blood, and they have extended her the family name, putting her on par with the rest of the Murphy family, but rumors have circulated that she is the strongest of them."

"Sounds like you've already done a fair amount of work, Tarnish." Fais laughed as tarnish shrugged, looking away rubbing the back of his neck with the tinge of embarrassment for being called out.

"I was interested in the subject, it's not often that a Hero of that ability and prowess goes undetected for as long as she has." Tarnish admitted. "I want to know if there are any dirty secrets though.. There has to be a reason she isn't operating in the open."

"Very well, lets add her to our board and look into this matter. " Fais nodded walking over to the board adding the name to the board as well as a question mark. "So is one week enough time for that Tarnish?" Tarnish nodded.

"Yes it should be."

"Alright one week, Dabi, I want a plan by then about how you plan to take down Endeavor." Fais instructed receiving a nod from the black haired man. The lieutenants nodded and exited, Fais stood in the middle of the room filing the folders, their head dropped slamming into the cabinet drawer "Fuck." Fais snarled punching the wall next to the cabinet.

"Hey Love!" Aydin called to the man next to her, as a knock was heard at the door. "Can you get that?"

"Of course." Shoto said, washing his hands and kissing her cheek before going to answer the door, "Should I bring Takea?"

"No. I'll bring her out with me, we should give her favorite uncle some time to relax before she takes over and takes him away from us for the whole evening." Aydin mused pushing her back into her husband's chest briefly before he moved to answer the door.

"Ok" he agreed, grabbing 4 beers from the fridge opening one and setting it next to her before moving into the other room to answer the door. Aydin was just finishing up with dinner when the tv in the other room was suddenly turned up.

"Aydin!" Shoto yelled from the living room.

"Yes love?"

"You uhh, you might want to get in here."

Aydin rolled her eyes and turned off the stove scooping Takea off the ground along with her sippy cup and teddy bear before walking into the living room. She grabbed her beer from the counter and walked into the other room. "Yes love?" She asked setting Takea on the floor as she squealed and attacked Bakago's legs scrambling up to sit with him and Izuku on the couch. Shoto just stared wide eyed at the tv pointing at it, Aydin looked at the tv which was showing commercials.

"Well we just had it on in the background, when the headline cut in, it was a picture of you, and we stopped talking,-" Izuku rambled making no sense.

"Anyone care to translate?" Aydin laughed cutting him off, she shook her head in amusement at the fluffy green haired man that was trying to explain.

The blond next to him staring at him with a look that mirrored hers of confusion and amusement. "Normally I'm pretty fluent in Deku but I don't even know what that was." Bakago laughed, earning a grumpy pout from the smaller man followed by him sticking his tongue out at him childishly. "Hey don't go sticking that out unless you're prepared to use it." Bakago challenged.

"Ok and not in front of Takea, you two!" Aydin chided. "Izuku what were you trying to say? Why does Shoto look scared of the tv? Or like he's about to hurl it out the window? I'm not really sure which option he's leaning toward." she said looking quizzically back at Shoto.

Izuku took a breath before starting over. "Well the tv was on in the background and they were doing a weird special on underrated heroes. It's a special program they are showing before the Billboard voting opens tomorrow. The voting for new ranks has been the main thing the news has been on about the past few days." Izuku ran a hand through his hair fluffing it and flattening it at the same time. "They have been doing half hour special stories on heroes that deserve to be in the rankings that either haven't been ranked before or ones that deserve to be higher than they are. The stories started this morning with number 5 and have been winding down to the number 1 underrated hero. We just saw the little up next preview for the last part of the mini series, and you're going to be the one they feature." Izuku explained, chewing on the inside of his lip nervously. Aydin looked over Bakago for confirmation, to her dismay he just nodded.

"Shit." She hissed. "Well I guess we are going to need to watch to see just how bad this is." She sighed closing her eyes and shaking her head in disbelief that after being so precise the media was potentially going to undermine the carefully curated stealth platform she had built that had allowed her to operate as effectively as she did.

She sat down next to Shoto, her hand resting on his knee. "Hey we knew this was going to happen at some point. We haven't been hiding it completely, we just haven't been public about it."

"I know but I really would have liked to not have it outed like this. No control of the narrative." She curled around him, she didn't like this, she didn't have control over this, she had a plan and this wasn't it!

"Actually you may have some control." Izuku said, causing all of them to look over at him.

"Well don't go holding out on us now." Aydin said, turning to face Izuku her back against Shoto's chest, encouraging him to go on.

"They have a hotline you can call into during the show and comment so while it's not the most ideal way, if you need to rebuff something you have a way."

Shoto pulled Aydin closer against his chest, his head resting on her shoulder, he didn't like this feeling of turmoil he'd been feeling lately his gut was telling him that his life was about to get turned upside down. His grip tightened on Aydin's hip with the feeling of unease. Aydin leaned hard against him, her hand rubbing soothing circles on his arm feeling the tension in his body. "You ok?" She asked, they both knew things were changing, it was that uneasy feeling you get as the roller coaster climbs to its first drop in the dark, the one you can't see coming; she knew it was coming but she never would have guessed how steep it was going to be.

He didn't answer at first, just wrapping his arm around her, his arm crossing her chest, her body being pressed back against him. "I just have a bad feeling things are going to completely change soon and not for the better." Shoto mumbled against her neck, she could hear him though and she squeezed his bicep that was draped over and around her shoulder. Bakago leveled a steely gaze at the two, his mouth curling with annoyance.

Izuku ran a hand through the blonde's hair "Hey, Kaa-chan what's wrong?"

"Don't worry about it," Bakago sighed, his face still pulled into one of exasperated annoyance. He pulled the greenette over kissing the smaller man's temple. "It'll all come out soon enough." He grumbled, Izuku nodded curling his body into the larger man ruffling Takea's hair who cooed and nuzzled into her uncles as they cuddled up with her safely tucked between them.

Aydin nodded at Shoto's concerned words, settling back against his chest tension creeping across her shoulders at his words, she knew he was right, everything was going to be changing and it wasn't going to be easy. "I have that same feeling Love, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it."

Shoto just relaxed into her, they could get through this together.

The tv blared to life and Aydin's phone buzzed with a text 'Turn to Channel 5.'

Aydin texted back quickly 'Already watching it.'

"The count down to the number one underrated hero ends here! We have the hero who easily should be in the top 10 yet has never ranked higher than 87th!" The tv yelled as they watched a shadowy form of Aydin's hero form appear on the screen. "A hero who has been a part of multiple takedowns over the years and is one of the favorite teachers at UA!"

They watched as the tv talked about all the takedowns Aydin had helped with and been a key role in. They seemed to be counting down to the All for One take down.

"This brings us to the final and biggest reason she should be a constant in our Top 20 heros at least! We give you Corpus Iuris a currently undefined hero, but after today we are leaning toward her being the new face of our hero society! And if you have other reasons, call in we would love to hear your story about Corpus Iuris." The picture was fully in color now Aydin in her full costume black lightweight half sleeve kimono style top that remained open her chest covered by cloth wraps to keep everything in place while still allowing for excellent movement, wrist wraps that guarded her knuckles and helped with the force or her strikes, the mid thigh length lack skirt with a high slit that ran up one side to her hip allowing for mobility and maximum skin exposure since she did need to touch the villain for her quirk to be effective and mid calf high steel reinforced combat boots "While many remember the take down of All for One, it is a classically forgotten fact that Corpus Iuris was a part of this take down."

The screen flashed to the classic picture from that day the four of them were coming out of the building, Izuku was helping Bakago, and Shoto had been carrying Aydin out on his back, her eyes closed as she hissed with the movement from the migraine the fight had given her. Izuku's costume was completely shredded on one side, a few deep gashes were still viable on his torso. His arm was around Bakago though whose arm was over his shoulders as he hopped alone, one leg having been broken at the time. Bakago didn't look much better than his boyfriend in the picture, he only had one gauntlet on and one of his cross straps had been ripped as he was helped out of the building. Aydin was being carried by Shoto piggyback style, her face buried in his neck, her hair falling down the left side of his body in obvious auburn waves, her ponytail having fallen out. She had no wraps on her hands and only one boot on. Shoto didn't look much better, almost the entire left side of his costume was gone, unable to take the heat he'd produced that day. The four sat staring at the image. "That feels like a lifetime ago," Aydin breathed. "I barely remember that fight."

"Well you did have a vomit inducing migraine for the next week" Bakago snickered.

"Oh shut up, you didn't fare much better Sparky." Aydin snapped back. "You still favor your left side due to that shattered right leg he gave you."

"I've never gotten to that temperature level since" Shoto said "I think it burned out my top yield having to hold that level as long as we did."

"Yea I don't think any of us came away without some kind of lasting effect from that fight." Bakago sighed, earning nods from the others in the room, except for Takea who kept playing with her teddy bear.

"We can clearly see from this picture that Corpus Iuris was at the scene for this take down. With the knowledge that she is a Murphy by blood, one can only assume that she has some form of a manipulation quirk. Also in replaying the interviews of that day, our current top three all admit that they would not have succeeded without her. No interview was found from Corpus Iuris, this may be due to recoil from her quirk as was minimally suggested by Ground Zero's interview that day. So we give you our pick as the number one underrated hero, Corpus Iuris, the hero world's contingency plan. When things go south and you need a certain win, Corpus Iuris is who they call in. While she has in the past hung back in the Pro world it isn't from lack of ability Corpus Iuris hails from the Murphy family showing that she is used to the spotlight and has a very large backing in the hero world, with the Murphy family topping hero charts all over the world. If you have any other Corpus Iuris stories of your own we would love to hear them!"

Aydin groaned, "This is just great, lets have random people call in and comment on my life and my pro reputation."

"I'll call your parents see if they can take Takea for a few nights while we can sort this out." Shoto said, picking his phone up off the arm of the couch and hitting send on a number as Aydin nodded.

"That's probably for the best. That house has some of the best protections in the country. I'd rather not have to worry about her while we figure this out."

"We'll stay and help." Izuku said offering himself and Kaa-chan to help, Aydin nodded appreciating the help. Aydin's parents agreed to watch Takea for the next few days after Shoto told them about the show that was currently airing. They would come grab her when their shift ended that night.

"We have a caller with knowledge of a recent dealing that Corpus Iuris was a part of!" The host of the show practically crowed when the special came back from commercial "I hear you have knowledge of an incident we didn't cover."

"I do" the cool voice came across the television speaker. Bakago shifted in his seat, he knew that voice, but the person it belonged to was slipping his memory at the moment.

"And how did you find out about this incident?"

"I happened to be enjoying a cup of coffee and breakfast when she walked in, I didn't realize who she was at first. The girl behind the counter called her Todoroki or would have if she hadn't cut off the girl insisting she be called by the name she goes by at UA where she teaches one of the Theory Classes."

"How would you know that?"

"Well later she referenced her husband and I think I know my own last name and the name of my youngest brother when I hear them."

"Wait, are you saying that Shoto Todoroki is your brother?"

"Yes"

"And that Corpus Iuris is married to him?"

"Again yes, but I'm pretty sure that's not what I called to talk about." The voice was clipped, obviously annoyed with the turn towards gossip the call had taken. Shoto was frozen all eyes were wide and fixed on the screen, Aydin looked ready to murder someone with the stunt they were pulling her facial muscles twitching as if wanting to ring the caller's neck. Bakago looked away from the tv glancing back to watch his friend's reactions.

"Oh yes yes of course, what are we missing?"

"She got to talking with someone in the cafe," Aydin's glare increased if they was even possible, Bakago watched her curiously, she was not happy with this turn of events, and he had a name to the voice, Dabi, or Touya Todoroki a fact that he was sure very few people knew. Shoto looked like he was about to be sick, hearing his oldest brother's voice over the tv after so long not hearing him. "She was waiting for a pastry to be finished in the back, despite being so high profile between her family and the one she married into, she expected no special treatment she even waved it off when it was offered. It was refreshing to see a pro hero so dismissive of the special treatment that comes with the territory, especially in the house I was raised in for the first 19 years of my life. Endeavor never really was a hero type at home. A man walked in, he was scittish and he looked nervous, it wasn't the normal way people act when they walk in to get their morning coffee. Well she noticed that and got him to relax and start talking. I'd never seen someone genuinely care and talk to someone, I'd always seen the instant judgement and retribution side; it was interesting to watch her work, she didn't even flinch when the man pulled a gun on her, a situation that most people would have been frazzled by."

"Aydin?" Shoto growled.

"I told you about this, 2 weeks ago when I went to get breakfast, and I touched his hand already, he wasn't going to do anything" She waved his concern off.

"Next time at least tell me if there is a gun."

"Ok love, I will next time." She kissed his lips gently, effectively wiping the disapproving look off her husband's face, stroking his cheek as she cuddled back into his chest and arms.

"She got the man talking, he told her what was going on and by the time he left 20 minutes later she had planned pretty much the entire take down of the whore house on the river we heard about this morning. I just found it fitting that this story just came out and this show was going on about her yet the paper at no point mentioned Corpus Iuris."

"So what is your take on her potential role in the future of Hero society?"

"Well given that she is a current theory seminar teacher shows she should be at the forefront of our current society, she has the ability to truly look into what has been pulling apart the community from all sides and combat that growing distrust and the laws that hamper us all. In these trying times with the rise of Fais and this new surge of anti-hero press and groups forming, a person who doesn't focus on the limelight or even want it, is the perfect person to lead us forward. And as it has been shown she is strong enough to keep up with the best of our best and has an incredible streak of being a hero for the good of people instead of for personal benefit, I think anyone can agree that is something missing in our world."

"So you would like to see Corpus Iuris rise to be a force in our world that changes it for the better."

"That is exactly what I want to see. I want to see the rise of the true heros with this year's Billboards and the fall of those who are only heros when the public is watching them."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Turn in to the Billboard awards and see," The voice said calmly before hanging up.

They all sat in silence as the show ended. Shoto finally moved from his place behind Aydin. "I'm going to go pack Takea's bag." he said, moving almost zombie-like out the door.

"I'll go help." Izuku said, following Shoto up the stairs to Takea's room with the little girl bouncing her on his hip.

"I'll be right back. I need some water." She left the room. Bakago heard her moving around in the kitchen, followed by a scream "Fuck!" and a loud thud as he could only assume she had kicked a cabinet, he couldn't help but laugh at the auburn haired girl's antics. Her phone buzzed next to him, a message popped up on the screen, 'Phase 2?' Aydin walked back in handing him a glass of water sitting down next to him on the couch, her head immediately burying itself in her hands as she stared at the floor. Bakago shook his head chuckling and pulled her sideway into his side in one of his few and far between shows of concern and comfort for his friend as he flipped through channels. "Are you hungry?" She asked quietly.

"Don't worry about that right now, I'm sure Izuku will handle it when they get down, he's a nervous cook. Your phone went off though." he said allowing her to lean forward and grab it. She opened it up messaging back 'We will talk later.' she typed back "Nezu?" Bakago questioned looking at her with a challenging look that told her he knew exactly what was going on. She stared at him, her eyes wide for a moment before the sound of feet on stairs snapped her out of her shock.

"Oh talking to Nezu would be a good idea." Izuku said as he and Shoto walked back in with Takea and a few bags, they dropped the bags by the door before retreating to the kitchen.

"Oh uh yea, it would be." Aydin agreed before hissing to Bakago. "How long?"

"A month" he shrugged.

"And"

"Better you than anyone else. You've been planning this for a while, now it's actually happening."

Aydin sat still stunned by everything she'd just heard, before nodding. "Yea, but I'd really like to have done it on my terms." She buried her head in his stomach "UGHHHH! WHY!" She yelled her voice muffled by his black sweatshirt causing him to start laughing as he ruffled her hair.

"Chill out puppeteer," he laughed again, " Also it took me all of about 3 days to come to terms with it."

"How did you do that?" She asked, sitting up leaning back into his chest, his arm over her shoulders.

"Uh, remembered your senior theory project," he said, smirking as he looked down at her. "Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, Result: Change the World. Or at least I believe it went something like that."

"Oh." They sat quietly watching the tv for a bit in a rare moment of silence between the two friends.

The doorbell rang and she got up grabbing the door opening it to her Mom and Dad, her mother sweeping in and yanking her into her arms. Her father guided the two into the house closing the door behind him scooping his squealing granddaughter up off the floor who had come charging out of the kitchen, Shoto having shown her who was at the door, throwing her small arms around the hazel green eyed man's neck. "What happened?" Riona asked pulling Aydin into the kitchen, the others followed, Shoto was back at the stove, hovering over Izuku who was reheating the forgotten food Aydin had left in the kitchen just an hour ago.

Shoto hopped up onto the counter Aydin reacting to his open arms beckoning her to him, she curled into him her head nuzzling into his neck her hands squeezing his waist her hands twisting in his tee shirt. He stroked her hair, kissing her forehead as he soothed her nerves rubbing her back with the other hand. Aydin's mother stood next to her watching the semi regular ritual of one of the two sitting on the counter acting as the others comfort and rock. Riona leaned back against her husband engaging with Takea playing with the little girl who always enjoyed her grandfather's long hair even though all she did was tug on it. It took Aydin a few minutes but eventually she found the ability to answer the question her mother had posed. "Well one of the stations did a countdown of sorts on underrated heroes. Heroes that aren't ranked or should be ranked higher than they are. They somehow found out about me, they must have had someone on the inside that was able to sort through council records. They found just about every case I've ever worked on or helped solve, basically any report I've ever signed. They used all of them to build this case for me to be a top hero idea with no respect to the amount of effort I've put into staying underground, no regard to the fact that half of those were possible because I work as an unknown. Then they had people able to call in with opinions and stories, it escalated, I don't think there's a way to put it back in the bag, not after that, too much has gotten out. They know about Papa, and Shoto." Aydin said, barely keeping her calm, she pressed into Shoto's touch, one arm rubbing her back, the other hand holding the back of her neck, his fingers massaging the base of her skull, it was the only thing keeping her grounded at that moment. "I knew this had to happen at some point, there was no way to keep it a secret for forever, but I at least thought I'd have some say in it."

Riona nodded placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder "That is definitely frustrating my dear, I know you laid low for a while like we did when we first moved, it gives you a lot more ability to move about unnoticed, undercover and in many cases be much more effective in certain situations. But I think you were getting to the end of your limits with that, you may have had another 6 months, but from the intelligence I have been hearing, you were getting close to operating on borrowed time." Riona said, smoothing down her daughter's hair. "And all you can do know is take it in stride and work on the damage control, the Hero Billboard Charts come out in less than a month, by then I'm sure you two can climb to being the country's favorite hero couple, you have a lot going for you already."

"I know, I just didn't think Phase 2 of my plan would come about this way, I didn't think it wouldn't be in my control when it happened."

"Things are never easy or go the way we plan Aydin." Koichi said, "But I also have yet to see you not be able to face a challenge head on and most of the time you also manage to convince the world, the problem and even the people who planned whatever it is that got in your way that it went exactly the way you wanted it to go. It's a little frightening sometimes to be honest, I'm not quite sure how Shoto deals with never being right but that's a discussion for another time." Aydin blushed as he father a man of normally very simple words that were few and far between raved about her reaction and planning abilities.

"She lets me be right, that's how. It's not often but she gives me one every once in a while." Shoto laughed, kissing her forehead. Aydin giggled into his chest a warmth spreading through her pushing her closer into her husband's arms.

"Alright well we should get going. We'll bring Takea back in a few days, give you two some time to adapt to being in the eyes of the public as a couple before we add this crazy little tike into the mix." Riona said, Aydin nodded and shuffled back from the counter, Shoto hoping off as they walked Koichi and Riona to the door, giving Takea a long hug and kisses making her giggle before they waved bye to her from the front door as she was loaded into the back of the car and driven away.

Shoto and Aydin retreated back to the kitchen dishing up the now fully reheated dinner, dinner was weirdly quiet as they ate, Izuku suddenly jumped up. "Wait, does this mean I can finally put a picture of all 4 of us up?!" He spun to look at Aydin who laughed at the enthusiastic greenette, "Please Aydin! I have so many and they are adorable."

"Fine Izuku, you can, but I want to see it before you post it!" She called as he tore off into the living room.

"Well at least you now can walk down the street together hand in hand and not blow your cover. If anything I think people may stay away from IcyHot here more now, especially since they know his wife can kick their ass."

Shoto rolled his eyes "You know we still like that whole privacy thing though. Having the press constantly follow you around has never been a part of an ideal day for any of us." He sighed giving the blonde a withering look.

"True, but I at least can blend in a bit, you don't stand a chance with that hair, add Aydin and Takea to that and you don't stand a chance." Bakago laughed, flicking a beer bottle cap at Shoto across the table. Shoto glowered at the fiery tempered blonde throwing it back. Bakago grabbed Izuku's discarded chopsticks and threw them next. Aydin rolled her eyes grabbing her water glass off the table, taking a drink and leaning back from the table, her glass resting in her lap. The mini food fight continued til Bakago scooped up a spoon full of rice and took aim at Shoto. Aydin took another drink emptying her glass into her mouth as Bakago yelped from his spot, his eyes spinning to Aydin as he jumped up his thighs slamming into the table, up ending the last of his water into his own lap. He opened his mouth but then closed it with a low growl. "Try that again, Marionette I won't hold my tongue." He hissed before leaving the room yelling to Shoto he was going to borrow a pair of pants since his had been waterlogged. Aydin laughed smiling as the blonde cursed, walking off to their gym where a few sets of spare clothes were always kept.

"I'm glad you're smiling again." Shoto mused collecting the plates off the table and walking them into the kitchen setting to work cleaning them off and loading them into the dishwasher. Aydin brought in the glasses, loading them in as well as she put away the rest of the food, Shoto taking the dishes and washing them, moving seamlessly around Aydin who had turned her focus onto making tea and setting out some sweets for them for dessert.

"So I heard that there was a cyber attack on the school system the other day. Have they figured out who it was behind it? Or what they wanted?" Shoto asked, sliding in next to her pouring hot water evenly over the tea leaves in the teapot. Leaving the tea too steep as they walked out to join the other two.

Aydin set the tray on the coffee table, Izuku was flipping through his phone looking for pictures and Bakago hadn't returned from changing his pants yet. "Not yet, so far the only thing we know is that it was targeted at the staff and personal information," Aydin said "They used a computer that at one point was linked to Shigaraki in his early days back when the League of Villains was still fairly unorganized. So Nezu took some standard precautions, just in case they got the jump before he could figure out the motive. He also set up an alarm code for the staff if he finds more and gave us each a kit for supplies if he thinks we need to take extra steps to be prepared and safe." Bakago walked back in wearing a pair of athletic pants that fit more like a pair of chinos than sweats, he relaxed into the couch next to Izuku, as Aydin excused herself to grab the tea. As she walked past him her phone buzzed on the table, he leaned forward and handed it back to her, "Thank you." she said, clicking the message as she left 'Henkan-san, please utilize the kit you picked up on your seems that your file was the one accessed by our cyber attack. Your name and address were both accessed. Please proceed with caution. I am sending out back up to keep lookout around your house until we can apprehend this villain.' Aydin scowled, turning to sprint up the stairs and grab the kit next to the bedside table. She ran back downstairs into the kitchen rifling through its contents before she found she was looking for dumping a bit of the antiserum into each tea cup thankful Nezu had given her more when she'd asked. She poured the tea into each of cups keeping hers separate; she didn't need the serum since Nezu had already administered it to her and the rest of the staff. She pocketed the transceiver and clipped the two emergency pouches under her clothes, one buckling around her leg the dagger laying flat against the side of her thigh. The other clipped on to her sports bra, the medical pouch hidden between her breasts. Shoving capture tape in her pocket and clipping the two tap activated bracelets on. One would extend into a force enhancing gauntlet, the other into a modified crossbow that was fully equipped with a dart for almost any situation.

She sighed, grabbing the tea tray and walking back out to the living room, taking her tea cup off the tray she flipped open her phone typing a quick thank you response back to Nezu. Settling back against Shoto who looked down at her "Is that what came in the kit Nezu sent home with you?" He asked, feeling the outline of the stashed dagger against his leg and seeing the new cuff bracelets on her wrists, he had to admit the design didn't stand out as unordinary, the support course always was mindful when it came to their items blending in. Izuku leaned forward handing the Bakago one of the tea cups that was full. Katsuki slammed his back even though he had never been one for tea. But he drank it, begrudgingly out of respect and so Izuku wouldn't stamp on his foot again like he had last time for being disrespectful. The smaller man could be quite the nag and had the memory of a vengeful elephant causing him to be quite the handful for Katsuki when he wanted to be. Something Bakago was weary of provoking since he hated being on the receiving end when Izuku was in such a state. Izuku glared at the blonde before rolling his eyes with a sigh but leaned back against the bigger man all the same enjoying himself as the blonde's arm flopped over his shoulders. The fiery man at ease with his childhood friend against his side, it was the only time he truly felt like he could relax and enjoy the moment.

Izuku slowly sipped his tea, "So Aydin, how does tomorrow work?"

Aydin shrugged, "We do things like normal, but together, when things get tough we have to get closer, I move my work out into the open,"

"You can work at my agency." Bakago said, "I'd love to have you."

"You are not having my wife as some side kick when she can kick everybody in the room's butt without moving a muscle." Shoto said, "Besides if we are going to be bringing everything out, it makes more sense for my Agency to take her on and for us to work it together, she already consults with almost every case, my entire staff knows her and she's my wife, it makes the most sense for us to work together."

"That's probably a sound plan, especially since Aydin is still teaching, and if she works with Kaa-chan they'll be rebuilding the city block every 3 days."

"OY! Fuck Off Nerd!" he shoved Izuku sideways, Izuku almost spilled the tea as he was tossed across the couch. He giggled drinking the last of his tea saving it from ending up on the couch or floor. "You're supposed to be on my side!"

"3 days?" Shoto snorted "Well aren't you the optimist. More like every 5 hours."

"Screw you too! We get along just fine."

"Yea, tell that to our home gym, you two have torn that apart almost weekly." Shoto sniped back with a smirk, Aydin howled with laughter as Katsuki snarled.

"Say that again half and half!" Katsuki yelled, leaping to his feet.

"Kaa-chan sit down." Izuku sighed, yanking the man back into the couch. "Besides you need some competition on finding Fais, with Aydin actually working the case she'll probably have it solved within the first week." Bakago glared across the couch at the woman who was still laughing her husband smiling over at him as if he was daring him to say something to the contrary.

"About that," Bakago huffed, biting his tongue, his hands curling and uncurling in his lap before taking a deep breath and biting out the next words slowly like they physically were burning him. "Aydin, I had a few things I wanted to run past you, can I talk to you outside?" Bakago snarled.

Aydin was still laughing but nodded standing up "Sure but after I think we should actually get serious and figure out the plan of attack on this." The others nodded, as she followed Bakago outside.

"Seriously?" Izuku laughed as the door closed "They tore up the gym again?"

Shoto nodded, "Yea, we have a giant scorch mark on the wall and there is a hole in the wall by the grappling mats."

"Damn, you send him the bill again?" Izuku laughed, Shoto nodded. "I'm pretty sure with that temper of his we have bought you two a new gym at least 3 times over."

"Honestly that wouldn't surprise me." Shoto nodded "He's taken ours out a few times over as well."

"I could see that,"

"So what do you think, how bad was it, well is it going to be?"

"I don't think it was bad, just surprising, and not exactly respectful of our family, which they will be hearing about, because outing our family like that puts us at risk," Shoto said with a huff shaking his head in disbelief. "We both knew it was going to happen eventually. Now we just have to play catch up instead."

Izuku nodded "Yea, but I think the fact that she is so effective underground will help to moderate that, it makes sense that she stayed hidden and out of the public eye. She always has a plan, and five contingency plans just in case that doesn't work, she's the best person any of us have ever seen when it comes to putting theory into real world application."

"That is true," Shoto laughed, "She is something else when it comes to having a plan and making it work out exactly how she wants it to."

"Very true." Izuku laughed "I'm just glad she's on our side." Izuku suddenly looked at the door, "Is it just me or are those two unnaturally quiet?"

Shoto stopped and looked over at the door as well his eyebrows knitting together "That they are." He looked back over at Izuku, "We should probably go check on them." Izuku nodded standing up and setting his empty cup next to the last cup on the tray, it was still full.

"Yea that's what I was thinking." They moved over to the door stepping outside into the darkness. They looked around stepping up to the porch railing to see out into the yard better. Izuku's head whipped back toward Shoto as he felt two pinches in the side of his neck. Shoto was already leaning heavily onto the rail fighting to stay upright. Izuku felt what he assumed was the same concoction hit him like a bulldozer, his legs giving out on him since he didn't have the assistance of the porch rail. Fear coursed through him as his eyes closed, he hit the porch with a thud, not even registering Shoto's heavier body falling backwards on top of him as the darkness swept around the two heros.


End file.
